An inconvenient truth? Or yet another case of shoddy data collection by state agencies? The government is scrambling to prove that it is the latter, after data on the UPA's flagship poverty alleviation programme shows that it may not be reaching its intended beneficiaries, those classified in official-speak as below the poverty line (BPL). A recent note circulated to all state departments by the rural development ministry revealed that only...
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Mullaperiyar dam is safe, Tamil Nadu tells Empowered Committee by J Venkatesan
“Reported panic and bandhs are all creations of Kerala government” Tamil Nadu on Friday refuted Kerala's allegation before the Empowered Committee, headed by the former Chief Justice of India, A.S. Anand, that the Mullaperiyar dam was not safe if the water level was maintained at 136 ft. and that it should be reduced to 120 ft. In its response to Kerala's affidavit filed before the committee on Thursday, the State reiterated that...
More »Jayalalithaa amazed at PM's statement
-The Hindu Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said on Saturday it was imperative that necessary measures to allay people's fears over the Kundakulam Nuclear Power Project were taken before any precipitate action was embarked upon. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she said she was amazed to see in the media that at a joint press conference with the Russian President he had announced that the KKNPP would be “operationalised...
More »What’s Ailing RTI? by Shonali Ghosal
THE MERE suggestion of any amendment to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, sends civil society into a tizzy. Perhaps this level of anxiety is necessary to protect the common man’s most important tool to hold the government accountable. But what if the RTI is dying, not because of government intervention but negligence? The pendency of complaints and appeals in several states is on the rise, while the number of...
More »Anti-pentavalent lobby raises pitch
-The Hindu Raising concerns at the introduction of pentavalent vaccine in the universal immunisation programme in Tamil Nadu on a pilot basis, Makkal Nalavazhvu Iyakkam (MNI), Tamil Nadu chapter of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, has urged the Centre to reconsider its decision and asked the State government to put the introduction of the new vaccine on hold. In a statement issued here on Thursday, the MNI said that mere technological solutions without the...
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