The new draft National Water Policy (NWP) circulated by the Ministry of Water Resources to water experts suggests that the government is poised to withdraw from its responsibilities of water service delivery, and that multinational corporations and financial institutions might have too big a say in water allocation and policy. At first glance, it appears as if the policy takes a holistic approach to water resources management, with a clear recognition...

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s Report on the 2G Spectrum has created a great deal of controversy and his role is being questioned. The Public Accounts Committee could not finalise its report due to the splitting on the issue on party lines. The JPC currently examining the matter has taken an unprecedented step of taking evidence of a junior officer of the CAG’s set up, since retired, and quizzed the...

-The Hindu Congress president, Prime Minister call for timely payment of wages Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday brought up the alleged embezzlement of funds meant for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme — an issue that has put the Mayawati government in the dock — at a function commemorating the completion of six years of the job entitlement scheme. Holding the State governments responsible for the shortcomings, Prime Minister Manmohan...

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia may be okay with a little overlap between the National Population Register exercise and UIDAI's aadhar project, but an earlier note prepared by the Plan Panel had pegged the cost of this duplication at Rs 15,000 crore.  Based on the premise that increased accuracy of iris as a third biometric, as compared to the use of all ten fingerprints, was marginal, the Planning Commission,...

-PTI The government on Monday announced Convergence of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme with the rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA for creating more durable assets in the country.  "Statistics and Programme Implementation Minister Srikant Kumar Jena has approved Convergence of MPLAD scheme with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)," an official statement said here.  According to the statement, it was done after government received representations to converge...