The state government has rejected the demand of Right to Information Act activists to incorporate postal orders as one of the modes of payment of application fee and further fee under the RTI. Citing difficulty in the present prescribed modes of payment such as cash, DD, cheque and money order, the activists had petitioned the government seeking amendment to the Act to incorporate postal orders as a mode of payment. “Most public...

The first-ever India Human Development Awards Manav Vikas were announced in New Delhi. Kottayam in Kerala, Khargone in Madhya Pradesh; Udupi in Karnataka and Malda in West Bengal have been recognized for excellence in the quality of Human Development Reports for their districts. The overall award for excellence went to West Bengal with two districts amongst the eight finalists.  The Manav Vikas India Human Development Awards, instituted by the Planning Commission...

The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that appropriate steps would soon be taken to amend the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 to eliminate manual scavenging. Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval told a Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu and C.K. Prasad that necessary amendments would be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. The ASG also assured the court that the government would...

-PTI Seeking to end the impasse over the Kudankulam nuclear plant issue, the Jayalalilthaa government in Tamil Nadu on Monday gave the go ahead to the controversial project and announced a Rs 500 crore special development package for the area where it is located. "In accordance with (today's) cabinet decision, immediate steps will be taken (to facilitate commissioning) of the plant," chief minister Jayalalithaa said in a statement, breaking her silence over...

MGNREGS figures register a decline in desert State; Haryana forges ahead in the race Is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the much talked about flagship programme of the United Progressive Alliance government, losing steam in Rajasthan? Doubts over the credibility of the scheme have sprung up in the State that ironically pioneered the right to employment movement in the country. Today Rajasthan lags behind its neighbour Haryana in...