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 culture of cholchhe, cholbe is very much alive and kicking. Most of the 18 departments that were asked by the state home department to submit a list of their employees in the Maoist-affected Jungle Mahal area by December 10 have failed to do so. The list was sought to draw up a central incentive scheme for employees working in such sensitive zones. Officials at Writers’ Buildings said that so far, only...

-The Times of India   The filing of nomination by a tribal woman for the panchayat samiti polls at Gadakujang in Jagatsinghpur district, the epicenter of the anti-Posco agitation, has sparked fresh controversy over the presence of tribals in the area. Posco Pratirodhaka Sangram Samiti (PPSS) general secretary Sishir Mohapatra said, "The decision of Meena Hembram and Sara Das has belied the state government's claims that the area doesn't have any tribal population."...

Eureka Forbes, known for its water purifiers, is now out to banish darkness from Indian villages with its solar lighting products. Its Eurodiya brand of solar bulbs are made with US-based Nokero (short for ‘no kerosene’) that makes affordable solar bulbs, panels and chargers for communities that have no access to electricity. Over 85,000 villages (or 63% of rural India) are without electricity. Eurodiya is expected to be an alternative to...

-The Economic Times The charges of embezzlement of funds for the rural employment scheme may be contributing to the political battle between the Congress and the BSP in Uttar Pradesh, but it appears that, in real terms, political wrangling does not have any significant effect on its implementation. According to a study by the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, the UP government's lack of ownership of the programme, along with low...