Rs. 72 crore fund meant to stop chronic malnutrition and hunger deaths among the state’s 90,000 Sahariya tribals unspent or used for welfare of officials Baran, Rajasthan: The consequences of careless, uncaring governance in Jaipur and Delhi-both ruLED by the Congress-are proving deadly to India’s poorest tribals and providing a warning to the dangers inherent in India’s upcoming multi-billion dollar social-security scheme. At a time when the Congress-LED United Progressive Alliance (UPA)...

What kept Prime Minister Manmohan Singh busy after securing minister A Raja’s resignation on the night of November 14 last year?   He was writing a reply to National Advisory Council chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s letter on the practice of manual scavenging. On November 15, he wrote to her that he was asking the Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment to “examine how to strengthen” implementation of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and...

Ahead of next year’s assembly elections, the Congress-LED United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government plans to revise a proposed food security law to bring it in line with a previous draft that is deemed more liberal, and expedite its execution. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who also heads the National Advisory Council (NAC) that drafted the initial National Food Security Bill, has suggested some crucial changes to the version that was made public...

-PTI   Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh today refuted the charge that National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) had caused labour shortage in sectors like agriculture and construction. Ramesh said that there was a deliberate attempt to spread propaganda discrediting NREGA. "The scheme has increased agricultural wages, reduced distressed migration in some parts of the country and created community assets particularly water conservation structures. Of course, there is room for improvement," the...

In Gorakhpur, thousands have become a burden on their poor families Lack of rehabilitation facilities for thousands of children, disabLED here after a Japanese encephalitis attack, has made life a burden for them. Already reeling under acute poverty, these children are now an economic burden on their families. The monthly allowance given by the Uttar Pradesh government to the disabLED in 2005-06 was abruptly discontinued. “Life is worse than hell for my...