Describing the Food Security Bill as a "non-starter", the BJP today said food should be viewed as a fundamental right and the government should come up with the legislation in this regard at the earliest. The party also said the government should take measures for revamping of the public distribution system. Food security was one of the major agenda of the UPA government in 2009 but the bill is yet to see...

The Centre was not releasing Rs 1,700 crore in NREGA funds to West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee claimed today. "Despite placing full account for expenditure under the NREGA scheme in the state, the central government is yet to give Rs 1,700 crore," Bhattacharjee told a panchayat workers' rally here. "They are giving Rs 100 crore or Rs 150 crore in phases, but have withheld the main amount," he said. Ministers of state...

Good schemes, like technology, are never future-proof. They need to be tweaked as and when required so that they stay effective. Unfortunately, many feel, this tweaking of the UPA’s flagship scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), is not happening and slowly but surely we are losing the advances that had been made till now. At a press meet recently, rights activists Jean Dreze, Aruna Roy, Nikhil...

Tembhali, a remote village with a population of 1,552 in the Satpura range of tribal-dominated Nandurbar district, wears a festive look. It has undergone a total facelift with tarred roads, painted walls, banners and posters — largely of the ruling Congress party — and uninterrupted power supply. The reason for this makeover: the village will host the launch of the Centre’s much-vaunted Unique Identification programme, or Aadhaar, by Prime Minister Manmohan...

Members of the National Advisory Council (NAC) Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze have accused the UPA government of being “increasingly anti-labour” in their assessement of the national rural employment guarantee programme, on its fifth anniversary. With support from several activists associated with the government’s flagship social sector scheme, they have alleged that the “contractor mafia”is increasingly dominating in the states, minimising the potential to create remunerative employment through the programme. According to...