-DNA   The Centre has asked the Madhya Pradesh government to send "on priority basis" its action taken report on alleged corruption to the tune of several crore in works done under its flagship rural employment guarantee scheme. Senior officials in the rural development ministry said the state government has not yet sent its ATR over the series of irregularities pointed out by the ministry. "We are concerned over the irregularities and sought...

The passport office in Hyderabad reported the highest number of passport applications recorded in Indian history (at least 450,000) and it expects an increase of 15-20% this year Jamuna Kunta sits stiffly in a plush red chair at the Hyderabad press club, holding her head proudly erect as she quietly recounts the events leading to her husband’s suicide in Dubai. A farmer from Karimnagar, a rural district in Andhra Pradesh, her husband...

Gary Singh’s abduction ordeal illustrates the dangers faced by those who rely on smugglers to make their way overseas One day in 2006, 18-year-old Gubachan “Gary” Singh, an illegal immigrant in Manila, Philippines, was on his way to work when he was approached by four stocky Filipinos. One pulled out a gun, pressing the barrel into the small of his back, while another blindfolded him and shoved him into a van....

The Supreme Court stole a march on Saturday over a wavering UPA with its direction to the government to consider altering the poverty line and distributing 5 million tonnes of foodgrain to the poorest 150 districts. With the proposed Food Security Act being lobbed back and forth between the government, the Congress leadership and the National Advisory Council, the apex court's order dented UPA's pro-poor image. It might have been...

Elected five months ago, panchayat members of the state can finally look forward to carrying out development work in their respective areas with the state cabinet approving two sets of rules to guide the rural bodies. Approved last week and set to be notified in the gazette in the next couple of days, the Jharkhand panchayat (mukhiya, upmukhiya, pramukh, uppramukh, zilla parishad chairman, vice-chairman ke shaktiya evam kritya) niyamavali, 2011, and...