A rare praise for the UPA government in the 743-page CAG report on the Commonwealth Games was courtesy Railways. Applauding the work done by the state-run transporter, the government auditor mentioned that all the major activities relating to the makeover of New Delhi Railway Station were completed before the Games and within the budget. Though the CAG in its initial review of rail projects in January-February 2010 revealed substantial delay at every...

-The Economic Times   The government has amended its landmark Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to ensure that beneficiaries receive wage entitlements under the Act within 15 days through institutionalised channels, like banks and post offices. The amendment to Schedule II of the MGNREGA now makes it mandatory under the law for state governments to ensure that every beneficiary has a bank or post office account and the disbursements...

The Lokpal Bill is in danger of skidding off the rails. As it is introduced in Parliament, eminent activist Aruna Roy tells Shoma Chaudhury why we should not rush into it. THE LOKPAL BILL is now being debated in Parliament, almost 40 years after the idea was first mooted. Unfortunately, parented on one side by decades of wilful government inertia and, on the other, by the panicked hustle of ‘Team...

The Centre is likely to ask states to devote 2% of the funds allocated to them under its flagship rural employment guarantee scheme for providing easy banking Services to the rural poor. A funding crisis had hit the government's earlier effort to leverage the banking correspondent, or BC, model for the beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) after banks refused to bear the cost of...

It’s been raining “rights” in Indian policy for the last few years — education, work, food, service, healthcare, and much else. This “Diet Coke” approach to poverty reduction — the sweetness without the calories — was always dangerous because of unknown side effects. Commenting in 1790 on the consequences of the French Revolution, Edmund Burke said: “They have found their punishment in their success. Laws overturned, tribunals subverted, industry without...