Politicians admit breaking election law: ‘yes, that's the great thing about democracy' Politicians and their aides in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh admitted to violating election law to influence voters in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls through payments in the form of cash, goods, or services, according to a revealing cable sent to the State Department by Frederick J. Kaplan, Acting Principal Officer of the U.S. Consulate-General in Chennai. In...
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From crusaders to fugitives by Santosh K Kiro
Niyamat was brave. But Bhukhan wants to live. The brutal killing of MGNREGS crusader and Jean Drèze aide Niyamat Ansari has triggered an exodus from his native village of Jerua in Latehar’s Manika block. And alarmed co-worker Bhukhan Singh, whose house was also targeted on that fateful March 2 night, is leading this unnerved group. In fact, the horror isn’t just limited to Jerua, rural job scheme activists in several neighbouring villages...
More »NREGS killings unique to state by Suman K Shrivastava
The Union rural development secretary, B.K. Sinha, has said that killings of activists working for the betterment of MGNREGS were unique to Jharkhand even though complaints about the implementation of the Centre’s flagship rural job scheme have come in from other states, too. Sinha, who will be visiting Latehar and Bokaro on Saturday to find out more about the murder of NREGS activist Niyamat Ansari, told The Telegraph from Delhi, “We...
More »CAG to audit Haryana land acquisition policy
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) will now audit the land acquisition policy of the Haryana government to examine the alleged irregularities in the acquisition of agricultural land and compensation paid to the farmers. Sources have stated that a CAG team from Delhi has been dispatched to Chandigarh to begin the audit process. The state government’s land acquisition policy has been witnessing farmers’ protests at various places regarding anomalies...
More »Eight recipes to food for all by Olivier De Schutter
World Bank president Robert Zoellick recently listed nine measures that the G20 should adopt under its current French presidency. These range from improving information about grain stocks and developing better weather-forecasting methods to strengthening social safety nets for the poor and helping small farmers benefit from tenders from humanitarian purchasers such as the World Food Programme . These measures tackle only the symptoms of the global food system's weaknesses, leaving the...
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