-The Times of India   GARHWA: Largescale irregularities, including non-payment of wages, fake job cards, lack of awareness and non-conduct of social audit in some panchayats came to the fore at a district-level public hearing at a social audit programme of MGNREGA held at the local Nilamber Town Hall here on Thursday. The results of the audit for each gram panchayat were read out. This included not only discrepancies and irregularities but also...

-IANS   Bihar, for years a metaphor for backwardness, will now harness modern communiction tools to nail corruption. It will expose officials seeking bribes in welfare schemes by uploading clips of complaints against them on the video-sharing website YouTube. "The state government has decided to use YouTube as a new tool to expose corrupt and bribe-seekers," Bihar Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra told media as graft becomes a nationwide concern, particularly with...

The absence of a law regulating surrogacy makes India, especially Anand, a top destination for couples from abroad. UNTIL about 2008, the future looked bleak for Sharadaben Solanki. A landless daily-wage worker in Anand, Gujarat, she earned a paltry Rs.600 a month. Her husband earned an equal amount working as a construction labourer. Together the couple supported three children and their parents. That was when she heard from Maganbhai, the owner of...

-PTI   Madhya Pradesh Cooperative and Public Health Minister Gaurishankar Bisen today said efforts would be undertaken to bring transparency and accountability in the public distribution system (PDS) in the state.The bio-metric cards or coupons would be used in the entire state with the online computer system to be implemented in the PDS, Bisen told reporters at BJP office here.Informing that bio-metric cards are currently being used as a pilot project in...

-The Indian Express   The issue of fertiliser shortage took an ugly turn on Sunday when a farmer, Manjit Bhoi (35) of Talab village under Dhankauda block allegedly committed suicide by consuming pesticide as he could not afford urea to save his crop. It was only on Friday that farmers under the banner of Sambalpur Zilla Krushak Surakhya Sangathan had gheraoed Agriculture Deputy Director Ashok Kumar Mohanty demanding measures to prevent black...