Many Bangladeshi refugees in West Bengal are yet to receive voting rights Try bringing up the topic of the Assembly election with 80-year-old Ramesh Gayen, and he retorts angrily that people like him who don't have any sort of recognition even after living in a country for over 40 years are not “qualified enough” to discuss politics. Mr. Gayen's anger is echoed by Sashadhar Hazra, Kalyani Biswas, Ujjwal Biswas and other...
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Jairam Ramesh for minimum support price for minor forest produce by Urmi A Goswami
In an effort to wean away tribals from the Maoists, the Environment Ministry is pushing for a minimum support price for minor forest produce like bamboo and tendu patta. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh is taking up the matter with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee . A minimum support price (MSP) for minor forest produce (MFP) would help increase the earnings of the tribal population. At present, the more valuable items of minor forest...
More »Irregularities come to the fore
The UPA government's flagship programme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has found itself in the eye of storm again. This time in a panchayat of the coastal district of Kendrapada thanks to an RTI activist. RTI activist Niladri Bhusan Tripathy of Kendrapada recently sent a petition to the executive officer of Golarhat panchayat in Derabishi block of the district seeking information on the project expenditure under the MGNERGA...
More »Concern over drop in child sex ratio
The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) on Friday expressed deep concern at the Census 2011 revelation that the child sex ratio had dropped from 927 to 914 girls per thousand boys, confirming the worst apprehensions of those working to uphold women's rights. An AIDWA statement said the statistics once again raised serious questions about the direction of development which was leading to “growth” without social justice. The continuing devaluation of...
More »Gujarat releases Braille version of RTI by Manas Dasgupta
A Braille version of the Right to Information Act and its rules was released here on Thursday by the Gujarat Information Commission for the benefit of the visually challenged. According to Chief Information Commissioner R.N. Das, Gujarat is the first State to bring out a Braille version. He said the Commission was also working on bringing out an audio CD for the visually challenged and other differently abled people to explain...
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