-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday joined the long battle for improving the Capital's notoriously bad air quality by getting Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to commit to a three-month action plan to curb pollution in the National Capital Region. All four states agreed to take time-bound steps to address the problem and come out with a joint medium and long term strategy in July. Under the plan,...
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Death by distress: Nothing official about it -Amit Bhattacharya
-The Times of India As successive spells of freak rains in March-April ravaged fields across Uttar Pradesh, a spate of farmer deaths were reported. Most of these were ascribed to suicide or trauma, as crop losses mounted and the state appeared to be reeling under a fresh agrarian crisis. The UP government moved to provide relief, but on farmer deaths, it saw things a little differently. "There is no conclusive proof, yet,...
More »Now, Aadhaar card must for MGNREGA applicants -Bagish Jha
-The Times of India INDORE: After LPG subsidy, Union Government has made Aadhaar card mandatory for job applicants under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The move, however, is being criticized by activists. "MGNREGA Management Information System (MIS) is refusing to accept work demand or generate musters for workers unless Aadhaar number is mentioned," said Madhuri from Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan. Terming it latest effort of government to derail MGNREGA, Madhuri...
More »In Vidarbha, First the Skies Dried Up, Then the Government's Promises -Sreenivasan Jain
-NDTV Vidarbha, Maharashtra: First the skies dried up, and then it rained heavily, too heavily for Ramesh Khamankar's cotton crop. In January, the cotton farmer from Maharashtra's Vidarbha region poisoned himself to death. The crisis that has engulfed this region this year was not just of bad weather, but also one which had its origins miles away from the ruined cotton fields of Vidarbha. Falling demand from China pushed down the...
More »If we hobble Right to Information, then we hobble India’s democracy -Sanjoy Narayan
-Hindustan Times It took nearly 15 years for India's Right to Information Act (RTI) to finally become a law in 2005 after the late VP Singh (who was India's prime minister briefly) first stressed the importance of a law that would give citizens the right to seek and get information. But now that landmark act could become toothless in far less time than that. If that happens, it will be a...
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