After so many wrongs, the Planning Commission may have just got it right. According to leaked accounts, its universal health coverage proposal may become reality as early as the next five-year Plan. Once this policy is in place, India can legitimately enter the club of welfare states through the front door. Now, at last, it has a scheme that is truly inclusive for it includes us all. When implemented, this measure...

JANGU, 40, a Dalit labourer in Paraspur village in Gonda district, 120 km northeast of Lucknow, displays his job card in complete disbelief. “My job card was made three years ago and shows three payments. But I was never given any work, so how was the payment made?” he asks, puzzled. The first entry shows a payment of Rs 1,400 but he received a paltry Rs 100. He never went...

Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh admitted lapses of the past but spoke of a new beginning today in Saranda while unveiling an action plan for the forest region that was under the shadow of Maoist terror for over a decade. Armed with goodies like bicycles and transistor radios for residents of Chotanagra panchayat, about 120km from district headquarters of Chaibasa, Ramesh made it clear that the implementation of the development...

The Mamata Banerjee government is planning to take politics — or at least political symbols — out of panchayats, the foundation on which the Left built the edifice that remained impregnable for 34 years. “We would like to have non-political rural bodies as it would uproot petty politics that often halts development projects in rural areas. If things go as planned, the required amendments in the act would come into force...

-PTI   The retail and manufacturing sectors have emerged as the largest job providers in Bihar, together employing more than 14 lakh people.  According to a recent report containing a summary of the Fifth Economic Census, 2005, around 9.77 lakh people are employed in the retail sector, while more than 4.58 lakh people work in the manufacturing sector in Bihar.  The two sectors account for 65 per cent of total employment generated by all...