What happens in open standards? All technology/software used for e-governance becomes inter-operable. In other words, any technology platform or software should be able to read government documents, maps, images and datasheets. Who gains? Government: Will not have to spend crores on a proprietary standard. Various offices would be able to access data without having same technology/software. Consumers: Will not have to buy proprietary software to access government documents Who loses? Big proprietary software companies and licensed...

Agriculture and allied sectors grew by 2.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2010-11 fiscal, higher than 1.9 per cent in the same period last year. In 2009-10 fiscal, the agriculture and allied sector had recorded the lowest growth in five years, at 0.2 per cent, due to widespread drought that affected almost half of the country. Foodgrain production had declined by 16 million tonnes to 218.2 million tonnes....

Will earmark regions out of bounds for mining To identify areas of dense forest cover where mining will not be allowed Bid to avert delay of projects and their getting stalled on environmental grounds Seeking to adopt a holistic approach to the issue of mining and avoid a repeat of the Niyamgiri incident, the Mines Ministry will soon draw up a new policy that would clearly earmark regions that would be out of...

Packed into what look like two medium-sized suitcases are eight essentials — an iris scanner, a fingerprint machine, a camera, a laptop, a computer screen linked to the laptop, an Internet data card, a pen drive and a printer. Armed with kits like these, Nandan Nilekani and his team at the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will kickstart one of the most ambitious exercises in recent times — distribution of...

The state government has prepared a strategy to provide 100-day job to 10 lakh most deprived families under Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in this fiscal. "These targeted 10 lakh people would include 5 lakh the most poor families and the rest, 5 lakh, would be women," Secretary Rural Development Manoj Singh said here on Sunday. He said to start with the families would be identified and their data...