-The Times of India With barely a few months left for the crucial Uttar Pradesh polls, the state government is reading motive in all initiatives unveiled by the Congress-led government at the Centre. UP, which is among the worst performing states in elementary education, will be the only state to miss out on sensitizing the massive countrywide year-long campaign on the Right to Education (RTE), which starts on Friday - the...
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Skepticism about HDRs by Bibek Debroy
This seems to be season for Human Development Reports (HDRs). UNDP's global HDR for 2011 has been published. In that, the headline grabbing number was that India is ranked 134th out of 186 countries. This ranking is based on HDI (human development index), a composite indicator with three sub-heads of health (life expectancy), education (literacy, gross enrollment ratio) and PPP per capita income. HDI ranges between 0 and 1 and...
More »Par disapproves provisions on land transfer
-The Economic Times The government's bid to fast-track passage of the land acquisition bill seems to have run into trouble. A significant section of the standing committee of Parliament do not approve provisions on valuation and transfer of land. Chairperson of the standing committee vetting the bill, Sumitra Mahajan , has said that the bill cannot be cleared in haste and more consultations would be needed. The bill is unlikely to...
More »Bihar's economic growth causing labour shortages, higher wage bills in other parts of India by Ravi Teja Sharma
Bihar's recent economic growth has created a peculiar problem for real estate and infrastructure firms in other parts of the country. Migrant labour from the state constitutes around 50% of the unskilled workers employed in these sectors nationally, but increased government expenditure and private investment has caused rural migration from Bihar to fall by a third in recent years, resulting in labour shortages and 35-50% higher wage bills for real estate...
More »Centre regains Lokpal nerve by Sanjay K Jha
The Centre is preparing to introduce its own version of the Lokpal bill following its assessment that Team Anna’s Jan Lokpal bill does not enjoy as widespread a support among experts as assumed initially. A Parliament standing committee is looking into the bill now. Not all the panel’s recommendations may be accepted but the government has taken heart from the developments during the committee’s talks with various groups. “We have interacted with...
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