As states get together to launch security operations, official data from the first-ever study done of the country’s 33 districts hardest hit by Naxalites, shows an abysmal record of government expenditure on basic amenities, including health, education, roads, electricity and child care. In fact, the evidence couldn’t be more stark: the expenditure in a state’s Naxal-affected districts is merely a fraction of the figure for the rest of the state...

The government is likely to increase the plan allocation for government schemes by 15 per cent to Rs 3.73 lakh crore during 2010-11. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today held discussions on plan allocations amid demand for higher support from various ministries. Sources in the North Block said the finance ministry could agree to allocate a modest Rs 3.73 lakh crore of the gross budgetary...

The Rajasthan government’s decision to register all marriages, including child marriages, has stirred a huge controversy. The NGOs are protesting against this saying it would promote child marriages. But the government claims this won’t give legal sanction to the social evil. The Bill requiring registration of all marriages was passed last year. The government has now started the process to frame the law. According to official figures, over 68% girls...

The fraction of Scheduled Caste children enrolled in schools is dropping even though Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes are improving their presence in admission rosters, the government’s latest statistics show. The number of enrolled Scheduled Caste children for every hundred students has dropped for a second consecutive year, the statistics released today by the National University for Educational Planning and Administration revealed. The statistics were collected by the district information system...

After deliberating for well over seven months, the Union government has eventually evolved a scheme to extend the scope of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) on individual land holdings with Rs. 1.5 lakh as the upper limit of expenditure. The Rural Development Ministry has prepared a draft guideline, detailing not only the works that could be taken up for implementation but also the conditions to govern the...