A social activist has found a ration card on the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) premises that was issued in the names of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul and daughter Priyanka, bearing their Delhi address. The family's annual income was shown as Rs 30,000. The ration card was issued by the Thane rationing office. The ration card was issued despite Sonia Gandhi's address being mentioned as Delhi's 10 Janpath, indicating...

From 1,865 in 2006, the backlog of applications at the Central Information Commission has swelled to above 22,700. Activists say the RTI Act will lose its bite in a few years if the present state of affairs continues. In September 2006, an RTI applicant sought a simple list of schemes approved under the Urban Land Ceiling Act. The government department concerned demanded Rs 16 lakh from him. He appealed against...

The building collapse in Uttam Nagar that killed four people last week has again exposed how the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) as well as the state government are mired in large-scale corruption. The major cause of the incident, in which four people were killed, was reportedly the flouting of construction norms by the builder. Officials from MCD told Tehelka on condition of anonymity that the number of illegal buildings goes...

-The Economic Times   Rapid urbanisation of villages and expansion of urban areas pose a more pressing challenge to Indian policymakers and administrators than migration of people from rural areas to the cities, a new report has said.  "A commonly held perception is that explosive rural to urban migration is the primary cause for the state of India's cities. This is not borne out by evidence," says 'Urban India 2011- Evidence', released by...

-The Hindustan Times   After providing the right to education to underprivileged children in the city, it is time for them to avail their right to health. Delhi has become the first Indian state to bring schoolchildren under such a scheme with the launch of ‘Chacha Nehru Sehat Yojna’ on Saturday. Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit launched the ambitious scheme under which nearly 14 lakh school children in the city will be provided free medical...