Bihar is the first state in India to put information about students, teachers and educational status online as part of an effort to improve education Bihar has become the first state in the country to put details of Classes 1 to 8 of all its 70,000 government schools online. Only recently, a survey of primary education showed that the state, considered one of the most poorly developed in the country, had...

The Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council (NAC) has pinned its hopes on the new food minister, K.V. Thomas, to see its version of the food security bill past Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The NAC’s perpetual grouse was that Thomas’ predecessor, Sharad Pawar, was not only indifferent but also opposed the idea of social inclusion in the food sector, and managed to convince the...

Regulation in India's microfinance sector aims to address feckless borrowing and reckless lending – but will the new restrictions entrench poverty, rather than end it? One of the many crushing burdens for India's poor bear is debt; unable to make ends meet, they turn to traditional moneylenders. They are willing to extend credit, but at unconscionably high rates – sometimes exceeding 80%, and keeping borrowers in lifelong penury. Popular cinema and...

As the commons come under increasing assault, academics, practitioners and policymakers come together to devise ways to protect shared resources On a cold January night in Hyderabad, a fortnight ago, Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Environment and Forests, was led to an open-air dinner by folk drummers and body-painted tiger dancers as an appreciative audience of international academics and grassroots workers cheered and milled around him. Ramesh had become the toast of...

The government may allow post offices to set up automated teller machines, or ATMs , at rural areas, in an attempt to further strengthen the role of India Post in financial inclusion. India Post, which is working on major improvements in the payment process for social sector schemes like NREGA, will set up ATM networks in selected areas to give people access to online banking services. "Central, state and local governments are...