Bodies taken away by sweepers, cut into pieces and disposed of in jute bags The bodies of widows who die in government-run shelter homes in Vrindavan are taken away by sweepers at night, cut into pieces, put into jute bags and disposed of as the institutions do not have any provision for a decent funeral. This, too, is done only after the inmates give money to the sweeper! This shocking fact has...

-The Hindu To overcome the delay in payment of wages to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers in Jharkhand, allegedly owing to administrative apathy, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has PILoted a project in Jharkhand. Under the project, online authentication and Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) in respect of MGNREGS was conducted in three blocks of three districts. First time in India For the first time in India,...

The chief state information commission (CSIC) is likely to conduct more ‘Special Appeal Disposal Programme’ after disposing of more than 450 of the 607 Right To Information (RTI) appeals in just four days. Chief state information commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar had organised the programme, which was conducted at the Podar Medical College (Ayurved), Worli, over a four-day period. The event aimed at disposing of PILed up RTI applications at CSIC since 2008. Nearly...

Indigenous knowledge and farming practices of the region's tribal people recognised for promoting food security and conserving biodiversity Traditional farming systems in India have received a major boost at a time when Indian agriculture is struggling to come to terms with modern technologies. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has accorded the status of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) to the traditional agricultural system being practiced...

-The Economic Times   The enacting of the Lokpal Bill has been deferred in the Rajya Sabha but that need not end the discussion on how focused the proposals are when it comes to tackling corruption. For instance, what exactly are the quotas in the Lokpal meant to do? If out of an eight-or-nine-member Lokpal, four or five should be from SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities and women, what is the message going...