Chhavi Rajawat is not your regular sarpanch, even in these days of reservation in panchayats for women. Educated at Rishi Valley School, Mayo College Girls’ School and Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Rajawat went on to do an MBA but she bid goodbye to the corporate life to return to her roots in Soda village, 60 km from Jaipur in Rajasthan’s Tonk district. In a con
In the season of scams, one more has come to the fore. This time, it is biggest of them all. According to the Hindu report, the CAG is investigating spectrum allocation of 70 MHz in the precious s-band to a private company, Devas Multimedia Private Limited, by the department of space (DoS), without auctioning. CAG’s preliminary estimate suggests a loss of Rs 2 lakh crore
“It is very much possible to write an RTI application in 250 words,” a lawyer friend recently told me. He even showed me a few applications that he had drafted. All within the stipulated 250 words, as mandated by a draft RTI rule proposed by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) for applications demanding information from government offices. It was discon
In the last few decades, the negative fallout of the green revolution of the 1960s in Punjab has been continually highlighted in reports of sick soil, declining yields. A new report by Greenpeace India blames government apathy for the state of affairs. “Punjab, which is suffering from indiscriminate chemical fertiliser usage has not even spent a single rupee for the last th
Lobbying and the individuals, some self-professed and others who have famously or notoriously earned the title of lobbyists, have recently been scorned at in India. Their existence appears to have astonished some. Their role in civil society and administration has been questioned by others. And their purported influence on the government machinery has left many shocked. Consequently, profession
Despite the supreme court`s (SC) 2006 directive to the governments at the centre and states to urgently implement police reforms, a recent study said the states and union themselves having resisted such reforms. “Despite the promise for reform the centre has done little by way of implementing the apex court’s directive,” said a new report titled `Feudal Forces- Reforms Delayed
Two of the premier institutions, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) and National Institute of Design (NID), are celebrating their golden jubilee in December. The spirit of Vikram Sarabhai would feel vindicated that seeds sown by him continue to flourish and grow in a distinctive, notable and socially meaningful manner. He was a remarkable institution builder because he himself had
In a sharp warning, New Delhi based centre for WTO studies said that the revised draft modalities for agriculture under the WTO Doha round negotiations favour the developed countries. “The developed countries will be able to delay opening their markets and would be able to control the prices of agricultural goods through carve outs,” said the report titled “Doh
Per capita income of Indians grew by 14.5 per cent to Rs. 46,492 in 2009-10 from Rs. 40,605 in the year-ago period, as per the revised data released by the government on Monday. The new per capita income figure estimates on current market prices is over Rs. 2,000 more than the previous estimate of Rs. 44,345 calculated by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO).
Muslims are expected to account for 16 per cent of Indian population--up by a little over one per cent--and Pakistan may surpass Indonesia as the world`s most populous Muslim nation in 2030, says a study. The study also said the community`s population worldwide is expected to grow about twice the rate of non-Muslims in the next two decades, according to projections by the study `Th
‘March against corruption’ across several cities of the country last Sunday, which was spearheaded by RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and in which anti-corruption crusaders like Prashant Bhushan, JM Lyngdoh, JF Ribeiro and Medha Patkar, among others, participated, makes two broad points. One that corruption is no longer a non-issue and that people are angry enough to come out to the st
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the flagship project of the ministry of urban development, has completed five years. The project has facilitated modernisation of transport in 61 cities across the country. However, much more needs to be done to improve urban mobility. In an exclusive interview with Danish Raza, S K Lohia, officer on special dut
Ahmedabad`s Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) is being widely hailed as a success story. And for perfectly compelling reasons. It is a case of a concept well executed, quite unlike its counterpart in Delhi. However, while Ahmedabad`s BRTS is routinely compared, and favourably so, with that in Delhi, there is another equally pertinent comparison that needs to be made if we want t
The United States reiterated earlier this week that India is a partner and not a target in curbing global proliferation. By removing several subsidiaries of India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from the department of commerce’s so-called “entities list” barring export of certain dual-use technologi
India, which has witnessed numerous terror attacks and still remains a potential target for such strikes, faces significant money laundering and terrorist financing risk, the IMF has warned. The International Monetary Fund in its report "India: Observance of Standards and Codes FATF Recommendations for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism" howe
The recent proposal of the Maharashtra government to create Maharashtra information and technology services (MITS) has again highlighted the need of dedicated IT professionals as required for various arms of central and state governments. Last year, Haryana had similarly proposed a cadre for IT services. The idea of building human capacity for e-gover
