-CNN-IBN CNN-IBN has exposed an employment guarantee scam in Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi's constituency Rae Bareli where fake job cards are being used to siphon off money. An RTI application has thrown up some uncomfortable facts in this constituency where in the last 2 years, Rs 280 Crores were spent in Rae Bareli's MNREGS projects, but God knows where exactly is the money going! The national rural employment guarantee scheme is credited with...

-The Asian Age   Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s honouring of the Koraput tribals at the 99th Indian Science Congress for their conservation of climate resilient rice and pulses has helped place this backward community in the forefront of the world map. Ascribing their practices as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage system ( GIAHS), the Prime Minister honoured the tribals, Raita Muduli and Chandra Pradhan, for preserving the traditional agricultural practices of this region. This...

The move to set aside 4.5% share for minorities, including Muslims, within an existing affirmative-action system for other backward classes (OBCs) is legally sound, Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson K Rahman Khan has said. Rahman Khan, whose “reservation” model for Muslims in Karnataka served as a model reference point for the government’s decision, however said declaring the entire community backward based on Sachar's findings alone, as demanded by many Muslims, was not...

Research should find ‘frugal' solutions to food, energy problems Expressing concern that the expenditure on research and development in India has been “too low and stagnant,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday called upon industry to increase its contribution and stressed the need for enhanced public-private partnership (PPP) in science and technology. “It is in some way ironic that GE [General Electric] and Motorola have created world-class technology hubs in India, while...

-EPW Graft is a major issue in people’s lives, but it is unlikely to figure in voter choice in the assembly elections. A mini-general election will be upon us in February as fivestates go to the polls. Given the high-pitched outpouringson the electronic media around the anti-corruption campaign and the live coverage of the proceedings in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on the Lokpal Bill, we have been led to...