The claim that the Unique Identification project will facilitate the delivery of basic health services is dishonest. AMONG the many reasons cited for India to proceed with the Unique Identification (UID) project – that it will facilitate delivery of basic services, that it will plug leakages in public expenditure, that it will speed up achievement of targets in social sector schemes, and so on – the most specious is perhaps the...

The contentious issue of finance will be among the key items that will take centrestage at the UN-sponsored climate talks in Durban. Predictable and continuous funding to undertake steps to tackle climate change lies at the core of a balanced global deal. At the pre-conference meeting, South Africa said that the Durban meet should go beyond operationalising the Green Climate Fund agreed on at the Cancun meet. Pretoria indicated that...

A new draft Bill holds much promise to augment the development delivery mechanism. It is the new mining Bill, 2011, which has specific provisions for earmarking funds for development purposes in the mineral-rich districts that happen to be the regions with high poverty ratios. Revamped mining legislation can boost transparency in the vexed sector that seems much prone to illegality, corruption and extensive fraud.  Further, a well-crafted mining law can actually...

The pile of jute sticks arranged cone-like and glistening in the sun stood tall over the congregation as they offered prayers at the janaja of Syed Ali. It was around noon, the time Ali died yesterday, felled by a police bullet in the head. He and other jute cultivators had gathered at the Bechimari weekly market like they did every Monday with their produce of jute fibre; fibre that is meticulously shorn...

-The Times of India   The Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Bill, cleared by the cabinet last week, signals that the government`s heart is in the right place. Under its provisions, coal firms must share 26% of their net profits with project area residents, while non-coal miners will have to provide them a sum equal to royalty paid to state governments. No system is in place at present to properly compensate...