The government on Tuesday expressed shock over reports of embezzlement of UK grants in Sarva Siksha Abhiyan scheme and said that the flagship programme follows "rigorous and robust monitoring system". A day after the British government launched an inquiry into the alleged misuse of its funds under SSA, Department of School Education and Literacy under HRD Ministry here said it will write to the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of External...

Driven by spiralling prices of essential items, inflation surged into double digits at 10.16 per cent in May, the highest in the last 19 months, adding to the woes of the common man. Soaring inflation, according to analysts, may prompt the Reserve Bank to tighten liquidity at its quarterly monetary policy review scheduled next month. The essential items which have become expensive, directly hitting the pocket of the common man, include pulses,...

In normal circumstances, E. Altrin, a fisherman from Rameswaram, would have sold the juvenile lobsters, each weighing 50 gm, in the market after the catch. That is no longer the case. Nowadays, whenever he gets the juveniles he shifts them to the floating cage in the sea. “After four months in the cages, these juveniles grow in size and weigh 200 gm. If I sell the juveniles I will get only...

Many governments in the developing world lack the will to eradicate child labour, says the third ILO global report on the deplorable practice. The effects of the present global economic and financial crisis, rather than its causes, have been the central preoccupation of organisations such as the International Labour Organisation in recent times. The ILO, in particular, has focussed on the impact of the crisis on populations within the least...

Activist Gopal Krishna makes a case that the Unique Identification Number project is a gross violation of fundamental human rights and points out that a similar project/law in Britain is going to be repealed. This is with reference to a privacy invasion project which is relevant to India and all the democratic countries of the world. The very first bill that is to be presented by the UK's new coalition...