In five districts, just 500 beneficiaries
The Union government’s direct cash transfer scheme linked to the Unique Identification (UID) number was launched with much fanfare in January with pilots in five districts of Rajasthan. The government
Civil Society
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Mithi Virdi on warpath against nuclear plant
An angry protest is gathering momentum in Mithi Virdi, a picturesque village in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district. Four villages have united forces to oppose a nuclear plant coming up in their vicinity. Mithi
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Rural housing goes online
On 15 July, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi hosted a group of professionals working on rural housing in diverse geographies of the country. The agenda for the meeting, which was co-hosted
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Jackfruit business
Historically, the jackfruit has always enjoyed the status of a holy tree in Sri Lanka. Named baat gasa or ‘rice tree’ it is said to have saved Lankans from hunger in a crisis. Jackfruit has social and
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‘Vizag Steel was forewarned by us’
Just days after the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant came third in an environmental rating of the steel industry, a huge fire at the plant claimed 16 lives. The disaster at Vizag raises questions about standards
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Green building has surplus power
Even from the outside, the IRRAD building gives you the feeling of tranquillity. Its dull reddish-brown façade looks like it has yachts sailing across it, except they are all upside down. Later I would
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Fatehpura’s radical NREGA union
Government officials and functionaries still shudder at the name of Fatehpura taluka in Dahod, a tribal district in Gujarat. In August 2010, India’s first union of the National Rural Employment Guarantee
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Lokpal in a hurry
<p><style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }</style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">A high-voltage campaign to draft in record time a major anti-corruption law (Lokpal Bill) for India won concessions from the government in the street, but thereafter its leaders found the going much tougher.
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'What legitimacydo NCPRI and NAC have?'
<p>Arvind Kejriwal has been the moving force behind the India Against Corruption movement and the fast unto death undertaken by Anna Hazare at Jantar Mantar. He spoke to Civil Society on his draft for a Jan Lokpal Bill and some of the concerns expressed over how it has been put together. </p>
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'Deadline for Lokpal cannot be at the cost of consultation'
<p>Nikhil Dey is the low-profile joint convener of the National Campaign for the People's Right to Information (NCPRI). As a member of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), he has worked extensively at the grassroots for the implementation of the RTI Act and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).