Providing wrong information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act could prove costly. A senior Haryana official has directed that action be taken against erring staff. Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati has issued directions to all the departments to fix responsibility and take action under the Government Employees Conduct Rules, a spokesman said on Sunday. The move follows the realisation that several departments were spending more money in getting discrepancies removed and appearing...

As the demand for a ban on Endosulfan in India is gaining pitch and Karnataka being the latest state to ban the pesticide, the Pesticide Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) is going around crying foul. They are leaving no stone unturned to save endosulfan. Press meets across the country and plugged newspaper reports maligning studies that have indicted endosulfan in the past is a desperate attempt to save...

Ashok Gehlot's Budget speech lays emphasis on social welfare measures Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's Budget speech in the Rajasthan Assembly here on Wednesday laid emphasis on “positive results” of the State Government's work during the previous year for development of various sectors, and made a number of announcements for the welfare of different sections of society. In a significant declaration, Mr. Gehlot said a State-level Advisory Council would be constituted shortly in...

This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order...

For the first time since the launch of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in the 2005-06 fiscal, the combined plan outlay for the Ministries of HRD and Health has surpassed that of the Department of Rural Development, which administers doles like the NREGS, old age pension and rural housing grants to the poor. The UPA regime has for the first time cut outlay — by about 2 per cent...