India's landmark Right to Information Legislation is called the biggest single step since independence to build transparency in governance. However, its remarkable success is owed only to just 0.3 per cent of Indians who file RTI applications. It's anybody's guess as to what would be the impact if even one or two per cent of Indians began to ask tough questions to hold their rulers accountable. It is noteworthy that...

-PTI CHANDIGARH/PUNE: Arrivals of onion from Afghanistan have failed to bring down retail prices of onion in Punjab as it continued to remain high, with traders citing poor quality coupled with low arrivals. In the wake of skyrocketing prices of onion in India, Punjab traders have been importing onion from Afghanistan via Attari-Wagah land route. Daily 3-5 trucks laden with onion are crossing over to India, traders said. "There is not much onion...

-PTI NEW DELHI/GENEVA: Indicating a poor state of affairs on gender parity front, India was today ranked at a low 101st position on a global Gender Gap Index despite an improvement by four places since last year. The index, compiled by Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF), has ranked 136 countries on how well resources and opportunities are divided between men and women in four broad areas of economy, education, politics, education and...

-Live Mint Not only have Bihar and Odisha grown faster they have also ensured that benefits accrue to the poorest; in Gujarat, growth has bypassed the poor Going by logic, the poor in richer states should be better off than their counterparts living in poorer states. This is especially so when the country is seeing a welcome trend: Income growth in rural areas and poverty reduction has witnessed unprecedented acceleration. Not necessarily. Not...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Panchayat officials often fob off people seeking work under the rural job guarantee scheme, keeping the programme's implementation poor in states such as Bengal and Assam, the Centre believes. Delhi has now asked the states to get their gram panchayat offices to organise a Rozgar Diwas (Employment Day) at every ward every month, where work applications will be submitted and recorded at a public meeting. Such gatherings will...