This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order...

These days, Jhum cultivation also known as ‘slash and burn method of cultivation’, ‘shifting cultivation’ etc has been under continuous scanner for its productivity and ecological viability. This form of cultivation is followed widely in almost all the North Eastern States including the hill areas of Manipur. There are those who consider jhum cultivation as unproductive and ecologically disastrous so that people (understood as tribal people of the hill areas)...

The labour ministry may get about 36% more money under planned allocation in the Budget for the year starting 1 April to expand welfare programmes such as health insurance for the poor. “We are getting Rs. 1,300 crore under planned allocation in the coming Budget,” labour secretary Prabhat Chaturvedi said. The ministry was allocated Rs. 956 crore under the same Plan in the current year’s budget allocation. The labour ministry will also...

When we hear the word innovation, we often think of new technologies or silver bullet solutions — like hydrogen fuel cells or a cure for cancer. To be sure, breakthroughs are vital: antibiotics and vaccines, for example, transformed global health. But as we’ve argued in Fixes, some of the greatest advances come from taking old ideas or technologies and making them accessible to millions of people who are underserved. One area...

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was chosen CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Veteran agricultural scientist M. S. Swaminathan has been conferred the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award for his “outstanding leadership in the field of agriculture that has contributed to ensuring food security for millions of Indians.” Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the award to Dr. Swaminathan at a function here. Dr. Swaminathan, a statement from...