In what can be termed as one of the most interesting revelations to have been made using the Right to Information Act, environment minister Jairam Ramesh has declared a bank account with just Rs 29. The prime minister office has for the f
Nandan Nilekani-lead unique identity number project may hit a possible roadblock as National Advisory Council (NAC) member Aruna Roy, former chief justice of Delhi high court, A.P.Shah and others have raised privacy concerns on the project. In a s
Under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), only 45% schools across the country received all the three mandatory grants in the years 2008-09, says a report released here on Thursday. The Planning, Allocations and Expenditures, Institutions: Stu
Ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting for reviewing a decade of progress on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) over September 20-22, civil society groups have urged the government to speed up its efforts to bring down India`s alarming child mo
Now, all roads and highways in the country built in public-private partnership will be open to safety audits. Road safety in the country received a fillip when the government made such audits mandatory, concerned by the rising cases of traffic-acc
Mandatory group health insurance schemes must be started by companies for their employees for better health insurance cover in India, said Planning Commission’s deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia here on Thursday. “If in th
Ahead of a crucial meeting of the Centre on Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah met with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and defence minister A K Antony to seek their support on partial withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powe
The Supreme Court today held that the Competition Commission of India has authority to direct investigation pertaining to fair trade practices and its directions cannot be challenged before the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT).
Food inflation went up to 11.47 per cent for the week ended August 28, on the back of increase in prices of cereals, fruits and milk. This is the second consecutive week when food inflation has shown an upward trend, after a brief p
After days of unrest, the situation in the Kashmir Valley was today calm with curfew being lifted from all parts and a break in strikes called by the separatists in view of Eid-ul-Fitr. The situation is peaceful throughout the Valle
The debate in the Congress and the UPA government over land acquisition acquired a new edge with party President Sonia Gandhi favouring a balanced approach in securing land for industrial purposes without losing large fertile tracts.
Bowing to demands by several political parties, government today decided to carry out a caste census next year. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decided to carry out a caste census. The exercise would be
The ongoing development debate, dominated by themes like Vedanta, acquisition of farmland for industry, and food security, deposits a thick layer of irony and contradiction on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s utterances at the September 6 mee
The environment and forests ministry on Wednesday cleared the designation of parts of the 8000-km long Seshachalam hill range in Andhra Pradesh as a biosphere reserve, as urged by the state government last month, to protect its rich biodiversity.
The selections to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) are now under a cloud with the civil society decrying the lack of transaparency in the manner in which these were conducted. Documents obtained by a Delhi-based NGO&n
Jairam Ramesh, the environment and forests minister has told the civil aviation ministry to choose between destroying mangroves and taking away land allotted to Mukesh Ambani for a SEZ. Ramesh, who has been at loggerheads with the civil aviation m
As the countdown for the climate meet in Cancun this year has begun, Christiana Figueres, the newly-appointed executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said that the money available for climate change adaptation
The UPA government today symbolically tipped its hat to alliance partner DMK, proposing to rename the Madurai airport as Pasumpon Muthuramalingam Thevar International Airport. The government also proposed to rechristen a slew of other airports - R
The Planning Commission minced no words on Wednesday in its criticism of the government`s development plan, in the light of the Commonwealth Games works. Arun Maira, member of the apex planning body, said that it was high time that the gov
The long-running feud between the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) threatens to douse the Games cheer, whatever little might come-by the common-man`s way. The two tran
