Bringing an aggressive outlook to the ministry of rural development, Jairam Ramesh, who took charge of the portfolio in July, has attempted to address and fast-track contentious issues such as the proposed land acquisition legislation and the census for identifying households below the poverty line (BPL). Ramesh spoke in an interview about his blueprint for the ministry and revisiting controversial elements, including identifying the poor and poverty caps imposed by...

-The Business Standard   Much depends on a strong implementation framework but the imposition of a cap by the Planning Commission could lead to arbitrary exclusions. Himanshu Assistant Professor of Economics, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University The methodology, which is based on the framework suggested by the Saxena Committee, uses indicators that have been refined using a large-scale pilot survey There are over 400 million poor (the number varies depending on which estimate you...

A state data centre meant to be the backbone of launching much-needed e-governance initiatives has been hanging fire for the last two years and now looks like stuck for another six months at least for want of a building. An agreement to set up the centre, to come up under the aegis of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), was signed with Sify Technologies in February, more than one and a half years...

The Supreme Court said the RTI Act is not meant to be a “tool for oppression” of public authorities, saying the nation cannot afford to have the honest public official bogged down with all and sundry requests unrelated to corruption. “The nation does not want a scenario where 75 per cent of the staff of public authorities spends 75 per cent of their time in collecting and furnishing information to applicants...

While diversion rates still remain high, evidence seems to point to substantial improvements in the public distribution system around the country. It is well understood that a substantial proportion of the grain, mainly wheat and rice, that is meant to be distributed to eligible families under the Public Distribution System (PDS) ends up being sold in the open market by corrupt intermediaries, including some dealers who manage PDS outlets. The extent...