Over 60,000 people of jharkhand are fast realising the benefits of aadhaar, having already opened bank accounts with the help of their unique numbers issued by the Nandan Nilekani-headed Unique Identification Authority of India. UIDAI started enrolments in the state last September, and already six lakh residents have their numbers with another 16 lakh waiting in the wings, having completed formalities that include recording fingerprints and retina scans. “According to latest figures...

-The Hindustan Times   After the midnight purge, Baba Ramdev now faces CBI and income tax department scrutiny. The government activated the two agencies to look into the companies, properties and audit accounts of the yoga guru and his aides on Sunday, the day it broke up his fast, evicting him and his supporters from the Ramlila Maidan. Initial paperwork has begun. Under the scanner is the functioning of about 200 companies with...

Who cares for a paltry Rs 100 per day clean pay from the government. If you are dealing in coal, a little more black in your pockets couldn't hurt. Job schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Ramgarh district are floundering as labourers prefer to ferry coal for illegal traders, fetching them at least four times more wages. "I have no interest in job schemes initiated...

The farmers' agitation in Uttar Pradesh brings into focus the indiscriminate acquisition of land by the state for corporate-led development. ON May 19, three days before the formal observation of the second anniversary of the United Progressive Alliance government, Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi made a categorical announcement that in the monsoon session of Parliament scheduled to begin in July the ruling coalition would bring in legislation that...

P.V. RAJAGOPAL and Ekta Parishad, the non-governmental organisation he leads, have been championing the cause of land and forest rights of tribal and Dalit communities over the past two decades. The organisation is committed to non-violent, Gandhian forms of struggle and has recorded a number of success stories in ensuring and legitimising the land rights of deprived people, particularly in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa. In this interview to...