Newly appointed state chief information commissioner (SCIC) Vilas Patil admitted that there are lacunaes in the Right to Information Act. He felt that this needs to be addressed urgently so that the act can be smoothly implemented. Patil added that due to this lacunae the percentage of recovery of penalties imposed on the errant officers duringimplementation is either low or unknown. After the swearing-in on Thursday, Patil took charge from outgoing SCIC...

Former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister and Congress leader Gegong Apang was granted bail by Gauhati High Court today in connection with the Rs 1000 crore Public Distribution System Scam. Apang was arrested by the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) of Arunachal Pradesh Police on August 24 last for his alleged involvement in the scandal that took place while he was the chief minister of the frontier hill state in the North East. A...

In a first step of its kind, nine private companies have been shortlisted by the Union rural development ministry to develop infrastructure in the rural areas and maintain it for a period of 10 years. The project, envisioned as part of former President A P J Abdul Kalam’s pet scheme, Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA), will see these nine private players undertaking pilot projects in January next year...

When India  won its bid for the 2010 Commonwealth Games seven years ago, the event instantly became an emblem of national prestige. But as the country prepares to open the games on Sunday evening, an opportunity to burnish its global image has instead become a national embarrassment. The litany of problems plaguing the games — collapsed footbridges, filthy dorms, cartoonish corruption — have not only made headlines around the world....

The mammoth Rs 2,162 cr NREGA biometric project that will enable real time data capture of crucial processes such as attendance and measurement for muster roll preparation has finally kicked off with rural development ministry inviting expression of interest from the private sector companies. “The ministry of rural development envisages that the existing processes under NREGA can be digitized through a biometric based ICT solution that can be implemented at the...