Aruna Roy, a Magsaysay award winner former bureaucrat, was closely involved in the drafting of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. As a member of the UPA's National Advisory Council (NAC), among other things, she has been conveying to the government the views of civil society on the proposed changes in the transparency act. On the sidelines of 3rd national convention of National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, held...

Assam’s performance on NREGA implementation remained a matter of concern for the year April 2009 – March 2010. NREGA is to guarantee 100 days of guaranteed employment of the rural communities of Assam but research showed a different picture. North East Social Trust (NEST), a voluntary organization working for the community development for last eight years in Assam, carried out a research last year in collaboration with the Indo-Global Social...

Farmers with irrigated fields in Punjab and Haryana will start sowing cotton in a fortnight. Agriculture department officials estimate a 10% to 15% increase in acreage this season as cotton has become more lucrative than paddy, basmati and pulses. Government's paddy procuring agencies and basmati exporters don't think that the staple's production will take a hit. "We estimate the area under cotton across the country to increase by 15% and prices will...

“Most common TB test is more than 125 years old; TB drugs are more than 40 years old” Microsoft chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates on Thursday said the large number of deaths in the world due to tuberculosis was unacceptable and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was all for supporting a low-cost affordable vaccine for the disease. “Whatever helps the poorest, we are committed to it,'' Mr. Gates said at...

A key government panel has warned that the country's overflowing grain bins will lead to a crisis if the government did not come up with a plan to dispose of the stored grain . The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) painted the grim picture in a presentation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week. It said the Centre, which is the biggest buyer of grain in the country, was sitting...