The claim that the Unique Identification project will facilitate the delivery of basic health services is dishonest. AMONG the many reasons cited for India to proceed with the Unique Identification (UID) project – that it will facilitate delivery of basic services, that it will plug leakages in public expenditure, that it will speed up achievement of targets in social sector schemes, and so on – the most specious is perhaps the...

Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh today questioned the policy of providing free electricity to farmers in certain states, saying excessive pumping by cultivators had led to a depletion in groundwater levels. “In district after district, groundwater tables are falling. And there is no doubt that free electricity has caused excessive use of water. Our policies on pricing of water also do not lead to conservation. So we have to rethink on...

-Yahoo.com   Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh today described India as the "dirtiest and filthiest" country in the world where people with mobile phones go out to answer the "call of nature".   The comment was the latest addition to the minister's repertoire of controversial statements on a gamut of subjects ranging from education and research to sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and sanitation. Ramesh, who last month said open defecation was a "blot" and a...

-The Hindu   A Central team of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has praised the implementation of various health care and nutrition schemes in Rajasthan and expressed hope that the constant decline in infant and maternal mortality rates would help improve the status of health indicators in the State. The 12-member team, divided into two sub-groups, visited Chittorgarh and Barmer districts and reviewed the progress of initiatives taken under the NRHM, mid-day...

The UPA government has decided to allow cash payment of wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in a desperate bid to increase demand for jobs that had gone down due to delayed payment of remuneration. Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Monday made the announcement stating that the facility would be allowed in all the 60 left wing extremist (LWE) affected districts where...