After more than six months wait, HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Friday signed the file for the notification of the Right to Education Act, 2009, in the next few days and its implementation from April 1. Delay in working out the finances and funding pattern between the Centre and states were the reasons given by HRD ministry for sitting on the notification. But the funding pattern is yet to be...

Villagers were paid wages two months late which is a violation of rules  The government’s flagship scheme for the rural poor was meant to provide succour to the unemployed but here, at least, it seems to be the cause of distress. A recent social audit into the workings of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGREGS) in Bihar by the Jan Jagran Abhiyan (JJA) in Araria district revealed serious problems...

As the country awaits another central government Budget, there is a growing demand for more financial muscle on several fronts. But, is throwing money at complex problems really a solution? A look at the progress of a crucial program of the government, the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), indicates that money can’t buy everything. One of the biggest bottlenecks facing policy-makers is that of medical personnel. Recently released data by...

In 1960, when I was enrolled for my MA at the Delhi School of Economics, the shining star at the School was certainly K.N. Raj. The founder of the School, V.K.R.V. Rao, had left the institution, but came back every Founders’ Day to remind us of its glorious past and of the enduring values it embodied. Raj’s style was much lower key, but it soon became clear that his dedication...

A local court in Maharashtra has upheld a farmer's plea that India's first family had fraudulently usurped a little more than one hectare of his farmland. Surprisingly, the order was made last December 7 but never made public since the order wasn't given to either party until Tuesday. In the order, the court of Daryapur subdivisional officer Ashok Amankar directed striking off the names of President Pratibha Patil Shekhawat's family...