The Congress-led government in Assam is going into an overdrive before the polls to reach out to all sections of the population. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi today announced his government’s decision to increase the quota of rice from 10kg to 20kg rice per family at the rate of Rs 6 per kg under the Chief Minister’s Anna Suraksha Yojana that was launched late last year. The scheme, being funded from the state’s...
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Kerala’s pesticide puzzle by Shaju Philip
Twice every year, between 1981 and 2000, a helicopter would whirr around the hills of the Western Ghats in Kasargod, a district in north Kerala bordering Karnataka, spraying endosulfan over the cashew plantations on the upper reaches. Children would rush out to take a look at the helicopter and the white spray would settle like mist on their heads and on leaves and shimmer in the sunlight. But that’s also...
More »Steep drop in representation for OBCs, minorities in panchayats by Rishikesh Bahadur Desai
MLC plans to approach Karnataka High Court seeking annulment of ZP, TP polls The State Government's Ordinance limiting political reservation in panchayat bodies to 50 per cent has not only reduced seats for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) but has also decreased the number of minority members in the rural local bodies. A study of the zilla and taluk panchayat election results available on the State Election Commission's website, www.karsec.gov.in, reveals that OBC...
More »EC in balancing act after bias hint by Meghdeep Bhattacharyya
The Election Commission is set to do a balancing act by again sending an observer team to Bengal, this time to assess the situation in places where Left supporters have been the “victims”. The move follows the CPM’s complaint that the previous team had visited only the areas suggested by the Opposition. “We are ready to send another team to Bengal next week. This time, the team will visit sensitive zones where...
More »Going against the grain by Reetika Khera
The National Advisory Council (NAC) had been widely credited with framing three pro-people legislations — the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Right to Information (RTI) and the Forest Rights Act — under the UPA 1 government. So when NAC 2 began discussions on the Food Security Act in mid-2010, expectations were high. The initial vision of an act with a universal public distribution system (PDS), extensive children's entitlements...
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