Prompt payment through bank; corruption eliminated; in fact, some workers have a saving. They are all manual workers earning Rs. 100 daily under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and some of them have a bank balance — no matter how small — made possible because of their financial inclusion and the introduction of technology that links their accounts biometrically through the Aadhaar number.

Migration curbed

The Cuddalore chapter of the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority has come to the rescue of cyclone-affected people in the district, who have lost vital documents such as passports, birth certificates, ration cards, court papers and so on. Chairman of the District Legal Services Authority K.Uthirapathy, who is also Principal District and Sessions Court Judge, has taken the initiative to help such people. They would otherwise have to undergo cumbersome procedure of approaching the respective departments or agencies to get duplicates after surmounting legal hurdles and time lapses.

women working in mining or stone crushing units often give opium to their infants to keep them quiet while they are working.
JAIPUR: A report prepared by a few NGOs on child labour in Rajasthan has claimed that women working in mining or stone crushing units often give opium to their infants to keep them quiet while they are working.

When the state government is boasting of improving the condition of poor by pumping in massive fund in rural and health sector, at least 10 garden workers are reported to have died of starvation and lack of medical treatment since October 2011 in Assam’s Barrak Valley. The workers who died of starvation were working in Bhuvan Valley Tea Estate, which is closed since October 2011.

A routine road trip from Ranchi to Dhanbad was enough for an aghast senior functionary of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to pull up Jharkhand for illegal mining and exploitation of tribals at the hands of the coal mafia. A source told The Telegraph that NHRC secretary-general Rajiv Sharma had visited the state in January.

Girish Sant, founder of NGO Prayas, a policy advocacy group in the power sector, died of a heart attack in a hotel in New Delhi on Thursday. He was 46.
Sant completed his BTech in chemical engineering from IIT-Bombay in 1986, followed by a Master’s degree in energy systems engineering in 1988. But instead of pursuing a corporate career like most other IIT graduates, `Bandya’, as he was known to friends, chose to become an analyst in public policy. Prayas was a think tank that contributed greatly to the debate on power sector policy.

MUMBAI: The government has been abandoning people in M-East ward with the same indifference and insouciance as it has been depositing rubbish there for years. Waves of people displaced from different parts of the city for MUTP, MUIP and Brimstowad projects have been rehoused in the ward since 2004. But a significant increase in the civic amenities here has not been deigned important.

Muktsar: Despite the fact that at least 1,100 persons have died of cancer in Muktsar district alone in the past 10 years and the disease is spreading its tentacles at an alarming pace, the health authorities have not planned any awareness camps for the World Cancer Day tomorrow. The poor and rich both have been afflicted by the deadly disease. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal lost his wife Surinder Kaur to cancer last year. Former CM Harcharan Singh Brar’s son Kanwarjit Singh Brar “Sunny”, MLA Muktsar, is also reportedly suffering from the disease.

KOLKATA, 3 FEB: The state government will give compensation to the tea garden workers, whose property and buildings have been damaged by elephants. State forest minister Hiten Burman said this after a meeting with several tea gardens' associations today. The state government and tea garden owners will jointly pay the compensation to the labourers.