Along with the proposed food security legislation and the communal violence Bill that have been its focus until now, the reconstituted National Advisory Council (NAC) is beginning to focus again on the government’s marquee rural job guarantee scheme as well. The ministry of rural development has been told to make a presentation on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to a working group of the NAC on Friday,...
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What the UID conceals by R Ramakumar
The UID project has both ‘security' and ‘developmental' dimensions. The former leads to an invasive state; the latter leaves us with a retreating state. Is identity the “missing link” in India's efforts to rise as an “inclusive” economic superpower? Can an identity-linked and technology-based solution change the face of governance in India? Given the euphoria around the Unique Identification (UID) project, one is tempted to believe so. However, a careful look...
More »India world's second largest tobacco user: Report
Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad called for a "jihad" against tobacco use after a report released on Tuesday identified India as the world's second largest consumer of tobacco. An estimated 274.9 million Indians consume tobacco, the first Global Adult Tobacco Survey said. Nearly 0.9 million tobacco-related deaths occur in India annually as compared to 5.5 million world wide. India is also the world's third largest producer of tobacco, the report added. "A...
More »Madhya Pradesh village gets electricity 63 years after independence
Nearly 63 years after Independence, a village situated on a hillock near Indore, got its first ever electricity connection. Koparwel, a tiny village with 20 households, broke into jubilation with the lighting of a bulb in one of its huts this Friday. Ambaram is the first villager to get the electricity connection. No sooner was his house brightened by a CFL bulb, villagers worshipped the instrument, distributed "prasad" and burst firecrackers. "It is a...
More »MFI interest rate on loans likely to be capped at around 24 pc by Mashusudan Sahoo and George Mathew
Interest rates on loans from microfinance institutions (MFIs) are likely to be capped at around 24 per cent. Currently, MFIs are charging 26-40 per cent on small loans extended to their rural customers — many of whom are yet to get even a bank account — while urban customers get personal loans at 12 per cent from commercial banks. Though neither the RBI nor the government has fixed any ceiling on...
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