-PTI NEW DELHI: An ordinance to protect convicted MPs and MLAs from facing immediate disqualification was approved on Tuesday by the Union Cabinet, in effect negating an order of the Supreme Court. Government decided to bring the ordinance after failing to get a Bill to this effect passed in Parliament during the recent monsoon session, sources said. The government's decision to take the ordinance route came against the backdrop of a Congress MP...

-Outlook India's foodgrain production is projected to increase marginally in the kharif (summer) season this year to 129.32 million tonnes after more than half the country received normal monsoon rains. "Total foodgrain production in the kharif season of the 2013-14 crop year is definitely expected to be higher than last year's level at 129.32 million tonnes," Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told PTI. Foodgrain output stood at 128.2 million tonnes in last year's kharif...

Bihar Government's programme of distributing bicycles to school girls may be a modest intervention but is leading to big changes. A new research-based paper, brought out in August 2013, corroborates the success of the programme and testifies that it is leading to improved school enrollment of girls and arresting their dropout rates (See links below to read full paper and earlier studies on the subject).   Based on econometric and statistical models,...

-The Telegraph Three of the nine experts assigned the job of saving the Ganga resigned from a high-powered central body today, voicing their frustration at being kept out of the loop and the "furious pace" of clearing projects they had repeatedly opposed. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who chairs the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), the three said the government had not convened a single meeting of the...

-Outlook An RTI exposes how the Sikkim govt has blatantly misutilised funds meant for quake relief Whose Money Is It Anyway! Of the Rs 60.45 crore allocated for construction of roads and bridges, the state government gave only Rs 30 crore Another Rs 52.64 crore was allocated, of which the government again spent only Rs 3 crore On the other hand, the...