As minister for rural development, Jairam Ramesh oversees the largest spending in the social sector by the government. This includes the marquee Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) that was pioneered by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance in 2006. The minister, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is known for his forthrightness. In a typically candid interview to Mint on...

-The Hindu   The National Human Rights Commission has asked the Bihar government to pay an interim relief of Rs.5 lakh to a woman, who was raped by a Home Guard at a police outpost in Bagah village of Champaran West. The Chief Secretary should send to the NHRC the proof of payment within four weeks and the district authorities should inform it whether the victim belonged to SC/ST community. The incident occurred...

Autobiographical volume later released at publisher's stall in Kolkata Fair; supporters protest Before the storm over the absence of Salman Rushdie at the Jaipur Literature Festival abated, another controversy has broken out, this time at the 36th Kolkata International Book Fair. On Wednesday, the publishers of a book written by Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen were not allowed to release it as per schedule. Even as Kolkata police officers said they had received...

Can Information Technology Act deal with the dynamics of the Net? THIS is one series of court cases the nation is following keenly. Within one week, in December last year, a criminal and a civil complaint were filed against 20-odd online giants like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo for hosting anti-religious and anti-social content on their websites. While the judge hearing the civil case ordered immediate removal and blockade of all...

In a decision that may prompt private schools in Delhi to rejig the entire list for nursery admissions, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday modified and laid down new distance criteria for admission of toddlers under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw set the priority criteria for children applying under the 25 per cent EWS quota...