When it came to power in May 2009, some ministers in the UPA government had set themselves a deadline of 100 days to show results. But one year and nine-odd months later, the report card of its flagship programmes in nine states hit by Maoism is dismal. Much of the money allocated has gone unspent, according to the “performance study” the Planning Commission conducted in these states and submitted to...

The ongoing pre-school admissions have forced many a city school into a tight corner. Institutions are being driven to do a tightrope walk between the demands of the Right to Education (RTE) Act and the unending pressure from political parties to admit students of their choice. The RTE aims at creating a level playing field for all children by making it mandatory for schools to admit a percentage of underprivileged...

The Naveen Patnaik Government has made a major course correction in its populist scheme.   The rice Rs. 2-a-kg scheme would no longer include a privilege section - the above poverty line (APL) families in the backward KBK region. The privilege section enjoying the largesse included income tax payers, members of royal families, ministers, MPs, MLAs, government officials and big businessmen. Though belated, the decision will save about Rs. 34 crore to the...

To keep a check on the implementation of various Centrally-sponsored schemes, a meeting of the District Vigilance Monitoring Committee of the Congress was held under the chairmanship of local Congress MP Pradeep Majhi on Wednesday. District Collector Sibabrata Dash, PD, DRDA, Dhruba Charana Panchbhaya, Executive Engineers of RD, RWSS, SOUTHCO, AEs of PWD, MI and LI and other district officers, besides members of the committee,were present. Detailed discussions on the various Centrally-sponsored...

The Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday adopted a resolution that is being seen as an attempt to influence the Lokayukta’s probe into charges of misuse of MLA’s local area development fund by two ministers. Interestingly, the resolution was moved not by the ruling party, but by Pramod Tewari, the leader of the Congress in the Assembly, and it was adopted by voice vote, without even a demand for division. However,...