After a long tussle with the Centre over sharing of expenditure, the Uttar Pradesh Government has finally started working on the implementation of the Right to Education Act. The Basic Education Department has been asked to speed up work on finalising rules for the implementation of the Act as well as for conducting eligibility tests for appointing teachers. The government is keen to appoint 80,000 teachers before the Assembly elections are...

The Lokpal is designed to be a comprehensive anti-corruption institution independent of the government, empowered to effectively investigate corruption of all public servants. But most of the critical elements in this vision have been rejected. The latest draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on hydrocarbon production sharing contracts and the transfer of oilfields to Reliance is only the latest of the mega scams to surface in...

Seven meetings and a stalemate. What now for the Lokpal Bill? It’s War Out There Seven meetings on, government and civil society reps drafting the Lokpal bill are split on four key issues Ambit     * Civil society: PM and Supreme and High Court judges should be brought under Lokpal’s purview     * Government: This is constitutionally untenable; PM should get immunity or should be investigated with adequate safeguards Scope     * Civil society: MPs can...

-The Business Standard   The rural development ministry is unlikely to accept a proposal by the National Advisory Council (NAC) for a single Bill on land acquisition and relief and rehabilitation. At present, there are two bills — the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2009, and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, 2009 — for the two processes. Officials say the government is committed to bringing in a legislation governing land acquisition in the monsoon...

Madhya Pradesh is betting cash incentives will curb population growth and improve the ‘life cycle’ of the girl child, but experts question the efficacy of such policies in addressing deep-rooted social prejudices Visitors trudging down the dusty village road are greeted by a giant billboard featuring a smiling Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, hugging two young girls. The tagline in Hindi reads: Gaon ki beti, kisse chhoti...