Bharatiya Janata Party MLC Vinod Tawde on Thursday demanded a probe by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) into an alleged scam in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Maharashtra. According to him, hundreds of crores of funds meant for NREGA wages were being pocketed by officials. “In Jawahar and Mokhada areas in Thane, one MGNREGS site reported that wages were paid to workers. But the list included a...

Nearly 50 women job card holders are working at the Bist Doaba canal near Pinjora under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme without any safety measures. The work involves de-silting the canal, but officials have not provided for adequate safety measures at the site. Amarjit Kaur, one of the workers, said: “Officers should take care of our safety as the canal banks are usually quite slippery.” After the intervention by...

The amounts of various radioactive releases into the environment are unknown, as are the winds and other factors that determine how radioactivity will disperse. The different radioactive materials reported at the nuclear accidents in Japan range from relatively benign to extremely worrisome. The central problem in assessing the degree of danger is that the amounts of various radioactive releases into the environment are now unknown, as are the winds and other...

The West Bengal government will ensure full security to workers deputed for election duty in Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia, three districts affected by left-wing extremism (LWE). Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh told journalists here that the full force would be present. He said this in response to queries that people were refusing to go to the three districts for fear. The elections to the three districts, comprising 14 Assembly constituencies, will be...

The gruesome murder of NREGA activist Niyamat Ansari has shocked the progressive civil society and political groups in the country. According to reports (one, two), Niyamat Ansari had exposed a case of corruption in NREGA and an FIR was lodged against a former BDO and another Panchayat Sevak of Manika block, Latehar (Jharkhand). On 2nd March 2011, Niyamat Ansari was picked from his house and beaten to death. The reports...