Farmer Dharamshyam Kujur put the hitherto nondescript village of Doba in Kudu block of Lohardaga district on the banking map of India today as he withdrew Rs 100 from his newly opened account. Watching him create history was Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor D. Subbarao, who, as part of RBI’s ambitious outreach proGramme aimed at financial inclusion, inaugurated a smart card-based satellite banking system in the village earlier in the...

The Supreme Court today sought response from the Centre and the Orissa government as to why the probe into the alleged irregularities in utilisation of funds for implementation of MGNREGA scheme not be handed over to the CBI. “Why not a direction be given to CBI to investigate the matter in accordance with law,” a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said. The bench directed the chief secretary of Orissa...

Farmana, a village in Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's home district Rohtak, boasts of the cleanest toilets but its social indicators still reflect Haryana's feudal mindset. Its sex ratio is far below the state average. A Nirmal Gram awardee for "total sanitation proGramme", and also holder of the Adarsh Gram status, Farmana has a sex ratio of 648 girls to 1,000 boys — one of the low sex ratios in...

The definition is contested as the answer has immense economic implications. If bamboo is a tree or timber, it belongs to the forest department and can be auctioned to the paper and pulp industry, often at throwaway rates. If it is a grass, then it would be classified as a minor forest produce and people would have the right to cut bamboo for sale or for value addition by making...

Heavy security bandobast is in place for the third phase of panchayat elections which will take place tomorrow in 61 blocks of 20 districts, with many of the areas considered rebel strongholds.This phase covers as many as 999 panchayats where 40,471 candidates are in the fray for 12,011 posts of Gram panchayat members, mukhiyas, panchayat samiti members and zilla parishad members. The electorate strength is over 32.58 lakh.“Polling parties have...