About 100 Rajya Sabha members have declared their assets worth more than Rs1 crore with independent Parliamentarian from Maharashtra Rahul Bajaj being the richest. According to an analysis by an NGO, renowned industrialist Bajaj has declared his movable and immovable assets worth over Rs300 crore followed by Janta Dal (Secular) MP M A M Ramaswamy (Karnataka) and T Subramani Reddy of Congress (Andhra Pradesh) who have declared assets of more than...

In an all-too-rare political consensus, India’s Central government and 10 states on Thursday decided to take a call in the following few weeks on reintroducing harsh laws that will severely punish hoarders in order to mitigate food inflation. A core committee comprising representatives of the states and the Centre, and led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, appointed three sub-groups to come up with a solution within 45 days. One of the...

With Rs 308 crore, industrialist Rahul Bajaj is the richest Rajya Sabha MP and CPI secretary D. Raja is the poorest Upper House member with zero assets. Unlike the Lok Sabha, the Election Commission does not declare information about Upper House members. The information is maintained by state assemblies. The NGO Association for Democratic Reforms got the information though the Right to Information for the first time. The data shows that Rajya...

A meticulously researched book by A. Vaidyanathan, Agricultural Growth in India: Role of Technology, Incentives and Institutions, is an illuminating scholarly work. Thinking about it one realizes the dismal and declining state of Indian agriculture and the poor governance at both Central and state government levels that has brought it to this sorry pass. A valuable compendium of data and analysis of Indian agriculture since Independence, it is a valuable...

In an attempt to prevent the misuse of funds under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Planning Commission will seek cabinet approval for appointment of evaluation officers to ensure that the money is not misappropriated. “The Planning Commission has already received favourable comments in this regard from all concerned departments including Ministries of Finance and Panchayati Raj,” said Sudha Pillai, secretary, Planning Commission, while releasing the Associated Chambers...