Fake entries and wrong entries have been the bane of the government’s flagship welfare plan — the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). However, Uttar Pradesh has found a way out. Starting July 2009, the state Department of Rural Development introduced the biometric smart card attendance system in 10 villages of two blocks, and in 2010, it plans to extend the same to at least one block in each of...
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ICMR to form expert group to study chikungunya-type fever by Shastry V. Mallady
MADURAI: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will study fever cases with chikungunya symptoms reported in various districts of Tamil Nadu. An expert group will be formed soon to find out the root cause of this fever, which results in joint pains and cripples the victims’ physical activity. V. M. Katoch, Director General, ICMR, told The Hindu here that he would talk to State public health officials and obtain data...
More »Bihar grew by 11.03%, next only to Gujarat
Bihar is India's new miracle economy. In the five-year period between 2004-05 and 2008-09, Bihar's GDP has grown by a stunning 11.03%, way beyond the definition of 7% growth for a ``miracle economy''. In this period, Bihar - traditionally a laggard state that actually saw a 5.15% negative growth in 2003-04 - is the second fastest growing state, just a shade behind Gujarat's well-publicized growth of 11.05%. The latest CSO...
More »Call for moratorium on GM food by Dennis Marcus Mathew
ALAPPUZHA: Noted scientist and founder of the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, P.M. Bhargava, has called for a moratorium of at least eight years on genetically modified (GM) food products in India. Inaugurating a national seminar on Bt. Brinjal and Alternatives in Agriculture at the Mararikulam Brinjal Festival here on Saturday, Dr. Bhargava said the moratorium period should be used to set up an independent laboratory in the...
More »India wins slowdown battle; defeated by rising prices in ’09 by Chandra Shekhar and Rakesh Pathak
India achieved the distinction of being the second fastest growing economy amid the global recession in 2009, but the joy was marred by the decade’s sharpest rise in food prices to the chagrin of common man. For a country that continued to lose on its exports throughout the year that has gone by, economy achieved a remarkable growth of about 7% (during April- September 2009) on the back of focused government...
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