-TheWire.in Swaraj Abhiyan founder Prashant Bhushan discusses the Essar tapes and other scams, the role of whistleblowers and his fallout with Arvind Kejriwal. Celebrated lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan has just notched up another victory with the Supreme Court-appointed panel decreeing there was prima facie evidence that former CBI director Ranjit Sinha had attempted to influence the investigation into the coal block allocation scam under the then UPA government. The court’s observation was based...
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Free childbirth services elude poor -GS Mudur
-The Telegraph New Delhi: Free health-care services during childbirth remain a pipe dream for most of India's poor, whether it relates to diagnostic tests, medicines, transport or even food, despite the Union health ministry launching a "free entitlements" programme five years ago. The families of most women who seek childbirth in government hospitals are forced to pay for supposedly "free" services, at times experiencing catastrophic expenditures likely to accentuate their poverty, two...
More »Centre spends 22% more on MGNREGS in FY16 -Sanjeeb Mukherjee
-Business Standard The Centre's expenditure on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in 2015-16 was around Rs 43,848 crore, 22 per cent more than the Rs 36,025.04 crore incurred in the previous financial year. However, a statement by the Rural Development Ministry said Rs 56,000 was incurred on the scheme in 2015-16, but of this Rs 12,152 crore was paid in 2016-17 as arrears. This payment would now have to...
More »Lethal gases from Jharia's coalfields fire continue to wreck havoc a century later -Valay Singh
-The Economic Times 5:20 am. Twelve-year-old Sandeep rubs his eyes. Prodded by his mother Savitri, he reluctantly steps out of his two-room mud house. Together, they head out in the darkness. Savitri walks purposefully, Sandeep trudges along. They are going to the opencast coal mine that is a 10-minute walk from their village Ghansaddi. On the way, they are joined by scores of people. In a curving file, they descend the...
More »RTI, RTE and rising aspirations -Anuradha Raman & Mehboob Jeelani
-The Hindu In a sign of change, mothers wage a relentless battle to get their children admission to the seats reserved for the poor in private schools. New Delhi: In her tiny room with a grey refrigerator and a wall-mounted television set, Babita opens up about her dreams. “My children should learn to speak in English,” she says. Two of her children study in private schools, and another in a government school. Private...
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