Weighed down by an unending season of corruption, the political leadership of ruling the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has stepped in to rescue the regime’s flagship rural employment guarantee scheme from discredit due to mounting allegations of endemic irregularities. The National Advisory Council of the UPA, headed by Sonia Gandhi, on Wednesday asked the Manmohan Singh government to expedite notification of the much-awaited rules that would allow public scrutiny of the...

-The Hindu   Even as the debate over the inclusion of human rights Activist Binayak Sen in the Planning Commission's steering committee on health still continues, the first meeting of the committee — that will guide the panel on drafting the 12 {+t} {+h} Plan — has been re-scheduled due to the non-availability of a large number of members on Wednesday. The meeting has now been fixed for June 22 as most...

The move to divide dalits into sub-groups seems headed for cold storage, amid indications that the Centre is apprehensive of the political consequences of the proposal which has polarized the volatile community along sub-castes. The social justice ministry has recalled its earlier proposal to amend the Constitution to facilitate division of the SC list as per wishes of some states. It will now seek the views of states on the entire...

-DNA   The Pune district administration will issue notices to Lavasa Corporation Limited and others after 10 adivasi farmers on Tuesday staked their claim to get back their land which had been transferred to the Lavasa hill city project. The Maval sub divisional officer (SDO), Sanjay Patil, held a hearing attended by the 10 farmers. Spread over 100 sq km, the Lavasa project is 65km from Pune in the seven hills in...

-The Hindu   The hunger strike called by social Activist Medha Patkar of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) in protest against developer Shivalik Ventures at Mumbai's Golibar colony entered its fourth day on Monday. Ms. Patkar's health is believed to be deteriorating. “She has fever, a high blood pressure and bouts of vomiting,” Mukta Srivastava of NAPM told The Hindu over telephone. Ms. Patkar's protest is gathering strong support from all...