Under sharp criticism for stalling the television premiere of The Dirty Picture on Sunday, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has said it was only following the directions of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, and the instructions issued by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Prime time Sources in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said the court order, issued on April 19 in response to a Public Interest Litigation...
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States slow on poverty census, deadline expires-Prasad Nichenametla
Uttar Pradesh, which supposedly has a high proportion of the country's poor, has not begun the job of enumerating them even three-and-a-half months after the first deadline set by the Centre lapsed. The project started in June 2011, with the target of completing the job by the end of 2011. The Centre then extended the deadline to April. Bihar has covered just 0.1% of the population. While there is no word from...
More »More questions than answers-CBS Venkataramana
It was Jawaharlal Nehru who said that ignorance is always afraid of change. In the light of this, there is no doubt that the Right to Education (RTE) Act is a courageous piece of legislation. But the 25% reservation clause for poor students in unaided private schools in the Act could end up facing serious operational problems. According to the law, the State will pay the private schools that admit...
More »Moving Backwards
-The Financial Express Food minister KV Thomas’ proposal of giving grain as part payment of wages under the MGNREGA stands to undo most of the progress the government has made in trying to curb leakages in distribution of subsidies. While close to half of food to be given through ration shops is believed to be making its way to the open market, the UIDAI-based system’s attempt is to give cash grants...
More »Tribe priority in caste census-Radhika Ramaseshan
The National Advisory Council will ask the Centre to focus the ongoing socio-economic caste census on enumerating and classifying denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes, or DNTs. The plan is to give these groups priority while issuing unique identity cards and introducing laws that will grant them explicit recognition on the lines of the 1992 statute on minorities. The NAC said special directives must be issued to the housing and urban poverty alleviation...
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