The West Bengal assembly tops the list of criminal candidates and it has 102 such MLAs. Most of these MLAs have criminal serious charges pending against them. Among the other three assemblies -- Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Assam -- which have been analysed by the National Election Watch, the richest assembly is (without a doubt) Tamil Nadu. The report on Kerala assembly is still awaited. It has 120 crorepati candidates in the...
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Average infant mortality rate down 30% in past 10 years by Subodh Varma
Recently released data on infant deaths across states in India has thrown up surprising results, leaving health experts puzzled. Average infant mortality rate for the country as a whole stood at 50 in 2009, down by 30% compared to a decade ago. The rate is much higher than developed countries but the pace at which it is declining is encouraging. But the surprises lurk in state level data. Three states -...
More »The other side of food inflation: Farm labour costs rise 50% in two years by Harish Damodaran
Everyone knows how much food prices have risen in the last few years. Not everyone, however, knows how much costs have spiralled for those who produce the food you and I eat. Data on daily wage rates for agricultural operations, compiled by the Labour Bureau at Shimla, show huge increases to have taken place in most States during 2009 and 2010. Andhra Pradesh, for instance, has seen farm wage rates – the...
More »Waste not, Want not by Hemchhaya De
Food minister K.V. Thomas is examining the possibility of bringing in a law to contain the wastage of food at weddings and other social gatherings. Will such a law be feasible, wonders Hemchhaya De The gala British royal wedding might have gripped the world, but are big, fat Indian weddings justified? It’s a poser that the Indian food minister, some senior Congress leaders and former bureaucrats are trying to deal with...
More »Binayak Sen on Plan panel committee by Aarti Dhar
Within weeks of getting bail from the Supreme Court in connection with charges of sedition, human rights activist Binayak Sen has been made member of the Planning Commission's Steering Committee on Health, which will advise the panel on the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012-2017). Binayak Sen, who was released on bail from the Raipur jail last month, will, based on his experience of having worked as a paediatrician in Chhattisgarh's tribal belt,...
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