Those responsible for the framing and implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) have once again protested the linking of Aadhaar number (Unique Identification UID) with the job guarantee scheme for the rural masses. In a letter sent to the Union rural development secretary, B K Sinha, they have expressed dissatisfaction over the decision to make UID compulsory for extending NREGA benefits in Mysore saying that the...

The Bihar government has shifted its focus to agriculture with the intent to make the state a “pioneer” in the second green revolution, stung by the lukewarm response of investors coupled with the Centre’s “non-cooperation” in ushering in an era of industrial growth. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has constituted an agriculture cabinet comprising 17 government departments. The department is aided by agriculture scientist and former director-general of the Indian Council of...

In fashionably liberal circles, Prashant Bhushan is an authentic modern hero, the people's advocate who uses the killer argument to avenge the aam admi on the bloodless battlefield of the Supreme Court. Among his lawyer peers, Bhushan is somewhat disdainfully seen as an "activist who takes up causes, not cases". Some politicians call him a "self-righteous" busybody with a penchant for the sensational storyline. Some others loathe the 55-year-old, who helped...

Over seven lakh calls to a phone number set up to register the number of supporters for an anti-corruption movement. Schoolchildren who have swapped their cricketing heroes for a 78-year-old Gandhian who is fasting unto death. Cries castigating Manmohan Singh's effeteness being greeted by a roar in the swelling crowds. And a mostly-out-of work Uma Bharti scouting for a photo-op but barely managing one. At Jantar Mantar, the site of Anna...

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the recent murder of NREGA activist Niyamat Ansari in Kope Gram Panchayat (Latehar District, Jharkhand), as well as a similar attempt — the same day — on the life of his associate Bhukhan Singh. Briefly, this murder was the culmination of a series of acts of harassment, including at least one earlier attempt on Bhukhan and Niyamat's lives. Bhukhan and Niyamat fearlessly continued to...