Eight days after Gandhian Anna Hazare called off his fast demanding a stronger Lokpal law, the joint committee to draft the bill met on Saturday for the first time amid a controversy over a CD allegedly involving eminent lawyer and panel co-chairman Shanti Bhushan. The meeting chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was held at North Block and attended by Ministers P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, M Veerappa Moily and Salman Khurshid...

The Chief Minister Mr. N. Kiran Kumar Reddy is of the view that the inclusion of Rural Connectivity as one of the permissible categories of works under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will be a boon for rural development in the State. Providing connectivity to SC, ST and other remote habitations including providing internal roads in the SC/ST habitations are approved for implementation. The Chief Minister was informed...

Sometime this month, Justice N Ramamohana Rao of the Andhra Pradesh High Court will deliver a verdict that will directly impact earnings of the 114 million people who work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Central government's work guarantee programme. The verdict will also indirectly impact earnings of the 400 million workers and labourers who toil in India's factories and fields for 'minimum wages'. The question Justice Rao...

There was a lot of apprehension before budget day regarding what the Union finance minister will do to reduce the deficit. Will he roll back the tax concessions implemented a couple of years ago as part of a fiscal stimulus package? Will he announce populist social sector spending in view of the major state polls coming up this year? Will he be too timid and not take any bold steps...

This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order...