All 10 fingerprints, an iris scan and a photograph of the person will be used for unique identification (UID) of individuals, the cabinet committee on UID decided on Tuesday, giving its in-principle clearance to guidelines for setting up the UID database. In a billion-plus population, a mix of biometric and photographic record is considered necessary to ensure fidelity of information collected in the project. With UID intended to help identify...

The Andhra Pradesh government has fixed a target to provide compulsory 100 days employment to 3 million households through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) during the financial year 2010-11. Last year, only 1.4 million households were provided with 100-day work in the state. In all, the state is aiming to touch 6.2 million households during the year implying a spend of about Rs 7,000 crore, up 52...

Less than a week after Vedanta University's environmental clearance was put on hold, the Centre has suspended the environmental clearance issued to another Vedanta group company for an iron ore mine in North Goa. The Pirna iron ore mine project, to be established by Sesa Goa at Pirna and Nadora villages, received clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests on June 9, 2009. However, following a May 10, 2010 order of...

‘The Indian farm area under organic likely to grow' To commemorate tenth anniversary of the implementation of National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), a “National Conference-India Organic 2000-2010” was held here over the weekend in which the growth of organic movement across the country was highlighted. Speaking on the occasion, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) advisor Dr. P.V.S.M. Gauri said the Indian farm area under organic was likely...

The glitter of growth has added little sparkle to the lives of many peasants and rural workers. Deprivation, discrimination, and disadvantage dominate the everyday lives of large sections in rural Andhra Pradesh, an important new study*finds.  Village studies highlight features of society that are often overlooked and overshadowed by macro-studies of the economy. A recent study presents extraordinarily rich, unusually detailed and intensely disturbing data on agrarian relations, livelihoods, economic...