Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has blamed US-based NGOs for whipping up a campaign against the Russian-aided Kudunkulam atomic power station in Tamil Nadu, causing a major setback to the project. Singh, in an interview to the American journal 'Science' being published on Friday said, "The atomic energy programme has got into difficulties because these NGOs mostly, I think, based in the US, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase...

-The Economic Times   An expert group has recommended adding 30 agricultural and allied works under the Centre's flagship rural job guarantee scheme, in a revamp aimed at making the country's costliest social sector programme more effective.  As part of the overhaul of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the panel has also suggested an electronic fund management system to ensure timely transfer of money to needy districts.  The recommendations of...

They operate from a cramped floor in a commercial building near Bhikaji Cama Place in Delhi, and work on a heavy roster of hearings day in and day out. However, the five posts of information commissioners in the Central Information Commission have drawn applications from all categories of people — from scientists, lawyers and journalists to, most of all, retired or soon-to-be retired bureaucrats.   Despite the heavy workload and its low-profile...

-The Economic Times   In 2007, 27-year-old Kaushalendra from Bihar shunned the placement frenzy, which would see many of his colleagues earn fat salaries, in favour of a more homespun alternative: Selling fresh vegetables on a push cart to residents of his hometown Nalanda.  Putting together whatever money he had, Kaushalendra began the venture in 2008 and soon started doing well. People didn't mind paying a little more if they saw value in...

-The Telegraph   The National Skill Development Corporation today said youths of the region need to be given the opportunity to develop skills for employment to stop migration in search of jobs. At a conclave on skill development in the Northeast here today, the corporation pointed out that between 2011 and 2021 over 14 million people would be potentially available for migration. The region will generate employment for 2.6 million persons while the supply...