Thanks to the Right to Information Act, 2005, and also the activism of NGOs and of the media, a culture of accountability is growing in the country. That is the good news. However, the media, NGOs and RTI activists can only do so much. They can focus the attention of the public and parliamentarians on egregious scams, but rarely address the systemic flaws that result in leakage of funds. We have...
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More bang for the buck from Non-NREGA work
Public employment created by non-NREGA public works may just be giving more bang for the buck than NREGA, around a fourth more going by the findings of the NSS survey on employment in 2007-08. In which case, the finance minister would do well to keep the spending for NREGA under check. According to the NSS 2007-08, a total of 477 million mandays of work were created under non-NREGA public works and...
More »Dreams die in the desert by Swathi V
Unlike the educated elite who go Westwards, attracted by better opportunities and a luxurious lifestyle, those who land up in West Asia as waged labourers have a much harder time: Practically no rights, hostile working environments and absolutely no support systems. Why is it that the violation of their basic rights doesn't figure at all in the national imagination? About the same time that India aired “absolute displeasure and concern” over...
More »Kolkata Declaration calls for publicly provided health care for all
Outcome of the Kolkata Group Workshop held on February 18 and 19, 2011 At the ninth Kolkata Group workshop, chaired by Professor Amartya Sen, 45 participants from different walks of life, including social scientists, policy makers and development experts, convened to assess the dimensions of social equity in India, especially as related to poverty, elementary education, and health. The participants assessed that the benefits of economic growth over the past two decades,...
More »NAC forces govt to act on manual scavenging by Swaraj Thapa
As a consequence of a stinging reminder from the National Advisory Council headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on still prevalent manual scavenging, an interministerial group headed by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Mukul Wasnik on Friday decided to set a fresh self-imposed deadline to end the shameful practice identified with only specific communities in society.The meeting also decided to set a timetable to end the system of constructing dry...
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