‘No further funds for the job scheme if norms are not met'  Several States, activists oppose new provisions Financial proposals now to be made online The Centre has made construction of the controversial Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra mandatory out of funds earmarked for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and warned that States which fail to do so will not receive any money under the scheme which...

Pollution contents were 300 to 1,000 per cent more than the norms The Gujarat Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, a voluntary organisation working for environmental protection, has come out with startling facts on how the badly treated industrial effluents are being dumped in the major rivers in the State and in the sea. The rivers include the Narmada, Mahisagar, Sabamarti and Damanganga and the sea outlet is in the Gulf of Cambay. Samiti convener...

While the landmark Right to Education Act takes the promise of primary education to more than eight million children, there are still many lacunae on the ground. But, as the Shiksha Adhikar Yatra, conducted by Dalit organisations in UP and Rajasthan showed, citizens now have the tools to demand and receive effective governance.  The landmark right to information act has made a huge impact at the local level on the...

Amflora is a kind of miracle potato: it is precious to the starch industry.  Johan Bergstrom, a blond and boyish man of 31, who farms here with his father, reached into the dark, soft soil and extricated a tennis-ball-size potato, holding it gently so as not to snap off any of a half-dozen white shoots that were growing out of the potato's eyes. He advised against tasting the potato, whose...

With the shortage of migrant workers in Ludhiana, the farmers here are a worried lot and flock the railway station to find labourers to work in their fields. The labours basically migrate from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and work in the farms in Punjab. The farmers waiting outside the railway station in search of labourers said they are having a tough time convincing the labourers to work in their fields. The farmers are...