e-Governance applications in the recent past have demonstrated the important role that information and communication technologies (ICT) play in the realm of development. ICT is being increasingly used by the government to deliver services of central agencies (like district administration, cooperative unions, and state and central government departments) to the citizens at their doorstep.
Contrary to what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh believes on the issue of distributing food to the poor, over 60 percent Indians want the government to help the hugry with free foodgrains, an opinion poll released on Tuesday has found. "More than six out of 10 feel that the government should distribute free food to prevent abject poverty,” said Whypoll, an opinion poll c
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma attended 42nd India-ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Economic Ministers Meet at the beach resort city of Da Nang in Vietnam. The minister discussed the progress made in implementing the trade in goods agreement and proposed trade pact in services and investments. While talking to PTI, he also mentioned about his unscheduled meeting
If firmness is shorn of political posturing and bravado, it is taken rather seriously. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar successfully proved in the hostage crisis that a mature, sagacious political conduct, not irrational flamboyance, is a rewarding recourse in statecraft. There is no doubt that as the hostage crisis unfolded the Nitish Kumar government was walking on a razor edge. But, de
Ten years after the signing of the Millennium Declaration, “India appears to be seriously off-track on a number of MDGs including those on hunger, infant mortality, maternal mortality, and women’s empowerement,” says a report. “Left with only five years to achieve the MDGs, poverty continues to make lives miserable,” Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (WNTA), a ci
In the last two decades (1989-90 to 2009-10) ‘arhtiyas’ – commission agents, a regular feature in Punjab agriculture system earned about Rs 6,427.27 crore on the marketing of all commodities, a study reports. On an average, the commission turned out to be Rs. 306 crores per annum on all commodities since 1989-90, according to the study report authored by Sukhpal
Do our members of parliament deserve the kind of pay hike they gave themselves recently? What about their performance? The questions beg some straightforward answers if we look at Parliamentary performance. The primary role of the Parliament is to legislate and it is precisely in the legislative activity that Parliament has devoted least amount of time. Between 2001- 2008 Parliament has devoted
The proposed second airport for Mumbai, at Navi Mumbai, will not only impact environment but also reach the saturation point in 25 years, a new study by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) has pointed out, even as environment minister Jairam Ramesh met civil aviation minister Praful Patel to resolve their differences over the proposal. The existing Chattrapatti Shivaji Interna
Sport was delivered a knockout blow in the UK after the cricket scandal moved to a new high, now to be known as SpotGate. The allegations were not allegations waiting for proof. Moveover, folks, this was a bunch of cricketers caught bowled and run out at the same time. Stumped is another word that leaps to the mind. The evidence is so overwhelming you need no inquiry. Throw the book at them. Th
CP Joshi, minister for rural development and panchayati raj, oversees the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the scheme that some consider partly responsible for giving UPA a second term. In this exclusive interview with Brajesh Kumar at his official residence in New Delhi, Joshi says he will be able to plug loopholes in the implementa
I write this from Raipur in Chhattisgarh after a chance interface with some 1,100 forest dwellers gathered here. The organisers have them singing bhajans and chaupais from the Ramcharitmanas, and interspersing messages on cultural renaissance and social integration, besides promises that they’ll soon have help in demanding corruption-free PDS and NREGA with the use of RTI.
The middle-class in India is quite unaware of the magnitude of child mortality rates as eight out of 10 people do not know that 1.83 million children under five die every year in India, a latest survey reveals. According to the survey, “Though nearly 60 percent of those surveyed felt the problem of child mortality was very serious in India, a shocking eight out of 10 did n
Ever since 9/11 the Americans have made it very clear that they are paranoid about security. They have also made it equally clear that they will profile people and their skies are unfriendly and a visa is no defence against arbitrary suspicion. They have also told you that what is not suspicious to you but is to them will be suspicion per se because it is their country, so there. What part of i
A report by the Hazards Centre, a Delhi based NGO, has put the total budget of Commonwealth Games 2010 at over Rs 1,00,000 crore. This includes Rs 55,398 crore which has been directly invested in the event related infrastructure and Rs 46,000 crore under the category of non-Games expenditure. The figure is pegged much higher than the Rs 11,494 crore that the government claims. W
India`s economic growth might be considered by some as enviable but it is highly unlikely that the same can be said of our cities. The best rank in a list of 65 cities across the world that an Indian city has managed is 45 - Delhi, followed by Mumbai at 46. Bangalore and Kolkata are at the fag end at 58 and 63 respectively. New York tops the worldwide ranking of cities in
Cancer which used to be a problem in the developed world has now greater impact than any other cause of death worldwide, and it costs the world economy a trillion dollars a year, says a new report. “In 2008, cancer accounted for nearly a trillion dollars in economic losses from premature death and disability,” said the report prepared by the American Cancer Society and LIVESTRONG.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has the image of a quiet and contented politician. Unlike several of his peers, he shuns rhetoric and yet makes his point cogently to his audience in Bihar. Having launched his campaign seeking to renew the mandate in the next assembly elections, Kumar has been harping on development and Bihari pride, themes that are alien to the state’s
The claims of British doctors and scientists can always be re-doubted whether the New Delhi bug actually originated from the Indian capital it has been named after but corruption is one adamant superbug that refuses to leave the power corridors of New Delhi. This time the bug bit a somebody who has been a familiar name in the country’s sports administration, credited, along with several l
In the late 1990s, when I used to work with the income tax department, we surveyed several multinational companies for their tax compliance and some of them were caught red-handed evading taxes. They admitted their fault and paid up taxes without any appeals. If they had been in any other country, their bosses would have been put behind bars. During one such survey, the chief of Indian
Ram Dayal Munda, a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), which was reconstituted recently, is acknowledged as the most prominent tribal academician and intellectual in his state. Born in 1939 at Diuri village in Ranchi district of Jharkhand, Munda has been a musician, anthropologist, linguist, development activist and, of late, politician as well. He obtained a Master&
