-The Times of India LUCKNOW: Refuting claims of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, SC/ST commission chairman PL Punia said here on Sunday that Hyderabad scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide early this month was a Dalit. Talking to reporters here, Punia said: "He was a member of the Scheduled Caste. Some people are only trying to water down the issue. Rohith and his siblings were brought up by a single mother, so...

Seldom rural citizens get the chance to meet high-level officials who are responsible for delivery of public services and implement pro-poor schemes. But this was made possible thanks to the Accountability Yatra, which is taking place in Rajasthan since December 2015.   It is indeed a rare opportunity to find a District Education Officer (DEO) being asked directly by a simple villager in a public meeting that in how many school...

-The Times of India JAIPUR: Enforcing labour reforms in the unorganised sector, the Rajasthan government has fixed minimum wages for domestic help and set limits to their working hours. According to a recent notification by the state's labour department, the rate for an entire day's (defined as eight hours) chores - including cooking, washing, baby sitting and other work - has been fixed at a minimum of Rs 5,642 per month. The...

-PTI Mobile phone production in India has reached 100 million with leading companies setting up their manufacturing base in the country, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday. “Today, I am happy to announce that in December, Rs. 1.14 lakh crore investment has come in electronic manufacturing in India. “We have attracted around 15 new mobile plants.” “Earlier in 2014, 68 million (mobile phones) were being manufactured and now 100 million are...

-Outlook A visit to Bundelkhand reveals a chilling state of affairs—one wrought in equal amount by nature, state negligence and policy failure Her answer still rings in my ears. “Bhaiyya, saawan ke mahine me ek paav daal laye thhe” (Brother, we last bought 250 grams of dal during the rains). I had asked her when was the last time she cooked dal for her family. This was village Mastapur in Tikamgarh...