U.S. President Barack Obama's interaction with the inhabitants of Kanpura village in Ajmer district of Rajasthan through video-conferencing on Sunday gave him a glimpse of the information technology revolution in rural India that extends the benefits of modern technology and services to the grassroots to improve the quality of people's lives. Union Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot led the rural group during the 10-minute interface at the...

Noted development economist and Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen talks about how government funds find their way into insurgent hands, and why the government is unable to check this. There are a number of reports that suggest that development funds are landing in the wrong hands. What are the various aspects of fund diversions? It's a well-reported fact that public money is finding its way into the hands of extremists. There...

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MG-NREGA) has been in news mainly due to corruption or inefficiency. The country has spent close to Rs 40,000 crore this fiscal but a large number of urban middle class people and opinion leaders don’t know what to make of it. Cynicism apart, the rights-based scheme has proved to be a game-changer in rural India despite mixed success. The scheme has been relatively...

The World Bank has approved a $220 million credit to support rebuilding efforts in areas affected by the devastating Kosi floods in Bihar. The Bihar Kosi Flood Recovery Project will finance flood recovery efforts through the reconstruction of about 100,000 houses, 90 bridges and 290 kilometres of rural roads, the World Bank said in a statement. It also aims to reduce future oriented risks by strengthening flood management capacity, restoring livelihoods...

Chief economic advisor to the finance ministry Kaushik Basu says the government should step in and acquire land for development projects to protect the interests of farmers. He also explains why the government cannot tackle food inflation by distributing free foodgrain among the poor. Excerpts from interview with ET: A large number of land-intensive project have run into opposition. Could it actually undermine our infrastructure thrust and growth? There is...