-Rediff.com   A former Delhi chief secretary and currently Delhi's public grievance commission chairman has warned the prime minister not to strangle the 'doers' in the bureaucracy and paralyse the government while the 'non-doers' go scot free in the euphoria over ushering in a strong anti-corruption ombudsman.  In an appeal that echoes concern of all senior bureaucrats, Ramesh Narayanaswami sought Dr Manmohan Singh's urgent intervention to ensure the best safeguards possible in the...

The UPA’s flagship scheme National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) appears to be losing steam, as financial performance for the current year till the month of October indicates only five states having spent more than 50 per cent of the allotted fund. While the BJP-ruled Gujarat (63 per cent) leads the pack of states in utilisation of NREGS funds, states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka have lagged behind...

At the technical level, the question is whether the technology deployed for identification will return answers that are unambiguous. THE Unique Identification (UID) project, the national project of the Government of India, aims to give a unique 12-digit number – called Aadhaar – to every citizen of the country, a random number that is generated and linked to a person's demographic and biometric information. The key word is “unique”. Launched in...

DR EDGAR WHITLEY is Reader in Information Systems at the Information Systems and Innovation Group in the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has a PhD in Information Systems from the LSE. His research and practical interests include global outsourcing, social aspects of IT-based change, collaborative innovation in an outsourcing context, and the business implications of cloud computing. He is also an expert in identity, privacy and security...

The relentless campaign to discredit the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and diminish the institution is continuing. One is not surprised; this has happened before, for instance in the Bofors case. However, one is dismayed because the campaign, unwittingly aided by some elements in the media, seems to be succeeding to some extent. It seems urgently necessary to dispel certain doubts and misperceptions before they gain ground and...