The National Mission to improve the delivery of justice is at work. In October 2009, on the basis of a Vision Document adopted at a judicial conference in New Delhi, the Government of India approved in principle a National Mission to reduce pendency and delays in the judicial system and enhance accountability through structural changes, higher performance standards and capacity-building. Many past attempts to achieve the goals did not yield results...

In the winter of 2009, a few months after the Congress announced a financial austerity drive for its staff, Sonia Gandhi famously travelled by economy class. But what UPA government's ministers probably saved on air fares, they seem to have more than made up on land. Fuel bills of Union ministers, since the financial curbs were put in place, were accessed by RTI activist Chetan Kothari. Merely 31 of the 84...

The Smart Card Project is helping nearly 12.7 million poor people in Andhra Pradesh to get timely payment of wages It was conceived as a vehicle to promote financial inclusion by taking banking services to the unbanked poor, harnessing information and communications technology to ensure the benefits of public welfare programmes reach those they are intended for by plugging leakages. The Andhra Pradesh Smart Card Project, launched in 2007, is...

Chandrasekhar Sahu, agriculture minister of Chhattisgarh, is passionate about making farming a viable proposition for farmers. He has written several books on the subject and is a frequent contributor to environmental journals. Talking to Jyotika Sood, he says the challenges in a state where 80 per cent of the population depends on agriculture are tremendous. He plans a separate agriculture budget and wants organic farming to be a cornerstone of...

-PTI   CPI(M) and other parties, including scientists and activists, on Sunday came together to form a national committee to support the struggle against the Jaitapur nuclear project in Maharashtra. A 15-member National Committee in Support of Jaitapur Struggle will have CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, his CPI counterpart AB Bardhan, former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board chairman Dr A Gopalkrishnan and former Union finance secretary SP Shukla as members among others. "The people of...