Anna Hazare’s fast is over, but the conjuncture of which that fast was an episode is not: Hazare’s own movement, or other similar movements, are bound to recur in the coming months. The question naturally arises: what are these movements all about? And to start with: what was Hazare’s own movement all about? It was certainly not about “corruption” in any definable sense. That word meant different things to the...
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Private schools may now come under RTI Act by Manash Pratim Gohain
Private schools may no longer be able to refuse to provide information under the RTI Act under the pretext of being a 'private authority'. The Central Information Commission (CIC), in a recent hearing against a private school, ruled that the school, which receives substantial funds from the government and was controlled by different agencies under the Delhi administration, including the DDA and the Directorate of education, comes under the ambit...
More »Ficci suggests reforms in land acquisition draft bill
-PTI Industry body Ficci has suggested that the proposed land acquisition act should apply to the private companies only if they buy 500 acres of land or more, instead of the 100 acres as suggested in the draft law. "The industry feels the threshold of 100 acres is very low for projects, especially in rural areas and this may only encourage smaller and fragmented holdings particularly in the mining sector. Hence, this...
More »Sibal, Montek differ on foreign education bill by Akshaya Mukul & Nitin Sethi
Considered reformists in the Manmohan Singh government, HRD minister Kapil Sibal and Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia are not on the same side when it comes to Foreign education Providers Bill and a slew of other educational legislations being planned by the HRD ministry. Ahluwalia's criticism has come out in the latest WikiLeaks disclosures. After a lot of initial enthusiasm, the HRD ministry is going slow on Foreign education...
More »Scanning 2.4 Billion Eyes, India Tries to Connect Poor to Growth by Lydia Polgreen
Ankaji Bhai Gangar, a 49-year-old subsistence farmer, stood in line in this remote village until, for the first time in his life, he squinted into the soft glow of a computer screen. His name, year of birth and address were recorded. A worker guided Mr. Gangar’s rough fingers to the glowing green surface of a scanner to record his fingerprints. He peered into an iris scanner shaped like binoculars that...
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