This is the season to count blessings. India's greatest blessings are its adherence to the democratic system of governance, an independent judiciary, a free and fearless media, and an Election Commission that inspires confidence. I hope that soon India will have an independent and effective Lokpal, which will pave the way for a corruption-free India, a pre-requisite for a hunger-free India. The other major paradigm shift observed in recent years is...

-PTI Industry body Ficci has asked the government to review provisions of rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) in the land bill to make the proposed law viable for the industry in acquiring land. In its submission on draft Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bill 2011 to Department of Land Resources Secretary Vijay Kumar, the chamber said that R&R entitlements envisaged in the Bill would increase cost and administrative burden for the industry. "Since...

If we get it right, the Food Security Bill carries the potential to alter the destinies of millions of India's poor and disadvantaged people, by assuring them as a legal right sufficient food to live with dignity. It was approved by the Cabinet after over two years of intense, sometimes fractious debate. Opinion in the Cabinet itself was reportedly divided around the proposed law. Gaping divisions persist, even as the...

The rural development ministry has rejected suggestions to halt the government's flagship rural employment scheme during peak farming seasons, proposing instead to include some core agricultural activities in its ambit to address concerns of labour shortage. This compromise formula follows Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention to resolve differences between the ministries of rural development and agriculture.Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had called for halting MGNREGA works during sowing and harvesting seasons....

Carrying forward from the opening of a school in Hamidpur Char & enrolling 378 children on Thursday, for whom education had been a distant dream come true, it was the day for yet another batch of 136 children enrolled in to a newly setup school in the age group of 6-8 yrs of Narayanpur Char in Manichak Block of Malda District, also visited by the 5 member Team of NCPCR...