‘BSNL chosen for project without tender process and it has quoted high price' The Department of Telecommunication's plans to go for extensive erection of mobile towers in the Left-Wing extremism-affected areas, to help people and the security forces stay connected, have been opposed by the Finance Ministry, which cited selection of the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for the project without following any tender process and its quoting high costs for...
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Marriage Bill hits minority hurdle, sent to review panel-Naziya Alvi
Delhi government's long pending Delhi Registration of Marriage Bill ran into trouble on Monday with some MLAs raising questions on its implications on the Muslim community. Objecting to the Bill being passed in the Assembly, Lok Janshakti Party MLA Shoaib Iqbal said that women can misuse the Bill to deny being divorced. They can also misuse it to get a claim in their husbands' property or to harass them after the...
More »India makes dubious claims before UN on human rights-Manoj Mitta
It was due to a civil society struggle that the government only last year removed the bar on outsiders from participating in the social audit of projects executed under its showcase legislation of MGNREGA. Barring Andhra Pradesh, no state has so far implemented this reform. Yet, in its report for the ongoing universal periodic review (UPR) before the UN Human Rights Council, India cited the social audit clause in MGNREGA...
More »Academic autonomy not a separation from people-Akeel Bilgrami
My reading of Prabhat Patnaik's essay (“Parliament's say extends to the classroom,” The Hindu, May 22, 2012), on the recent controversy regarding the removal of a cartoon from a textbook, is somewhat different from Neeladri Bhattacharya's (“A disquieting polemic against academic autonomy,” May 29, 2012). If I understand that essay's argument, it had two points to make. The first is less important than the second, but it is nevertheless not...
More »Is MSP for 13 minor forest produce the next MGNREGS?-Smita Gupta
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA)'s plan to introduce a Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism for 13 items of minor forest produce (MFP) has been approved by the Planning Commission. Sources in the Ministry told The Hindu that a detailed financial proposal would be sent to the Expenditure Finance Committee of the Finance Ministry by June 7 after which it would go to the Cabinet. Union Minister Kishore Chandra Deo, who...
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