It is not often that a social security programme the size of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS - New Delhi has spent Rs 40,000 crore on it in 2010/11 alone - faces an existential moment. But, April 2011 will present one such crossroad: the end of the term of a bureaucrat widely acknowledged as the prime mover behind the five-year old scheme. Brought in six years ago to the Centre from her parent...

Bihar did not record a single stillbirth in 2008 — death of an unborn child in mother's womb during the last trimester of pregnancy (after 28 weeks' gestation). Even before you could sigh in disbelief, truth to be told that India tremendously under reports stillbirth figures. According to the sample registration survey in 2008, conducted by the registrar general's office, the country recorded eight stillbirths per 1,000 births — a highly improbable...

Modi appeals to Manmohan to raise height of Narmada dam ‘Rehabilitation of over 2 lakh tribals, farmers still pending' The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) on Monday urged the Union government not to accede to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's demand to raise the height of the Narmada dam to its final level even when social and environmental compliances with regard to displaced families were lagging. The dam's height at present is 122 metres. In...

The people's hero Anna Hazare caught in further political cross fire over his praise for Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumars style of governance specifically because states like Gujarat have had no Lokayukta for the last nine years. "Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar are two chief ministers who have performed well," said Anna Hazare. Ironically though, Gujarat, unlike many other states in the Union, does not have a Lokayokta. The state enacted a...

In a veiled attack on non-government organisations (NGOs) that supported Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday suggested the Lokpal Bill should also cover “corporates and NGOs”. He also supported the idea of social activists, who are in the joint committee, declaring their assets. The Congress general secretary took a dig at Hazare for his controversial remarks that people vote for Rs 100 or a sari or a...