Tired of its own inefficiency in plugging leaks and ensuring timely delivery of ration, the Madhya Pradesh government has decided to take the privatisation route to improve its ailing Public Distribution System. The new system is being put in place by a corporate consortium led by HCL Infosystems with Edenred India Private Ltd ― a subsidiary of corporate meal voucher provider and multinational hospitality giant Accor ― and Virgo Softech Pvt....

Fighting the insurgency will need careful planning and sustained innovation. But New Delhi seems to have only big sacks of cash and even bigger words. Eleven weeks after the annihilation of an entire company of the Central Reserve Police Force in a Maoist ambush in April 2010 near the village of Tarmetla — the largest single loss India has ever suffered in a counter-insurgency campaign — Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram...

Buoyed by what they claimed to be a ringing endorsement of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Congress scion Rahul Gandhi's constituency, Team Anna on Thursday swiftly ramped up its plans, announcing a dramatic hour-long blackout to coincide with August 15. Announcing the results of the "referendum" in Amethi, Team Anna claimed that 90% of Rahul's constituents polled by them had supported their version of Lokpal Bill. The Hazare group said over...

-IANS   A central team that reviewed fund management under the National Rural Health Mission in Uttar Pradesh found ‘irregularity’ in award of contracts for procuring emergency medical transport services and poor quality of drugs, the Rajya Sabha was informed Tuesday. In a written reply, Minister of State Sudip Bandyopadhyay said Uttar Pradesh has ‘primary responsibility’ for implementing NRHM that aims to provide quality healthcare to people living in remote areas. The central health...

The Union government on Monday asked the States to prepare a below poverty line (BPL) list by March, census for which is now on, so that the needy are readied to enjoy the benefits to be rolled out under the 12th Five Year Plan. Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh hoped the States would prepare the list at the earliest. The Centre would, by December-end, complete its exercise of generating...