Friday's murder of Brahmeshwar Singh, chief of the outlawed Ranvir Sena (a private army owing allegiance to the powerful upper caste Bhumihars) in Bhojpur, 71 km from Patna, could become a major test for the seven-year-old Nitish Kumar government's continued ability to maintain social harmony in Bihar. Within hours of the killing in the early hours, Singh's supporters went on the rampage, upsetting the delicate caste equilibrium in south Bihar,...
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Appropriate action will be taken on highway scam after NHAI ascertain facts: CP Joshi
-The Economic Times At a time when the highway sector is showing signs of revival, a fresh controversy has come to haunt the road transport and highways ministry, with World Bank demanding a probe into "fraudulent and corrupt" practices by Indian contractors working on highway projects funded by the Bank. World Bank's Institutional Integrity Unit has sent a detailed report to the Department of Economic Affairs under the finance ministry, which has...
More »UPA’s elbow room to push crucial reforms may shrink
-The Indian Express The Samajwadi Party’s sweep in India’s biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, and Congress’s defeat in Punjab and Goa will further shrink the elbow room the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre has to push through key initiatives such as foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, pension reforms and legislation such as the goods and service tax (GST) that require support from states. The Centre had postponed some of these...
More »Understanding the PDS by Jean Dreze and Reetika Khera
A survey in nine States shows that they have quietly revived and expanded their public distribution system. AT a time when the Union Cabinet cleared the draft of the national food security Bill after dilly-dallying over it comes a compelling piece of information: many State governments have quietly revived and expanded the public distribution system in their States. That, at any rate, is one of the main findings of a...
More »PDS leakage drops to 10-15%: govt
-The Indian Express The government today claimed there has been an "impressive improvement" in the performance of the targeted public distribution system (TPDS), with leakage reduced to about 10-15 per cent on average now from 40 per cent earlier. "The leakage, on an average, is nearly 10-15 per cent," said Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution KV Thomas said in a reply during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha. The...
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