Aarti Dhar NEW DELHI: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on "denial' of compensation promised by the Centre after the floods that affected 2.5 crore people last year. The relief work was executed with the State's own resources and it was expected that the Centre would provide assistance in due course. "Since the due assistance is being denied on wrong premises, it does not augur well for a healthy Centre-State relationship,' Mr. Kumar has said.

Congress is set to hit the agitational pitch in Gujarat on

LALITESHWAR PRASAD SINGH In two months the monsoon will arrive. And I am reminded of my visit to East Champaran district of Bihar four

Bad timing, shocking scale

Bring National Average Of Out-Of-School Kids Down From 76L To 45L Bihar and West Bengal, always the subject of ridicule among policy planners, have created a record of sorts by contributing the maximum in bringing down the national figure of out-ofschool children in the agegroup of 6-14 from 75.97 lakh in March last year to 45.05 lakh in March this year. What lends further credence to the efforts of these states is that the maximum number of children who have started going back to school are Muslims, SCs and STs.

No wonder, the index of industrial production (iip) is on a roller-coaster. The 9 per cent gdp growth targets may well remain just that

Land alienation, poverty amongst scheduled tribes and dalits and lack of access to basic forest resources have contributed to the growth of naxalism, says the Planning Commission. Its report,

The national rural employment guarantee scheme completes two years and moves to cover all the districts in the country. Has it been worth it?

UP, Maharashtra, Gujarat And Bihar In Line Of Fire NREGA laggards could face an intrusive Centre as it emerges that a handful of states are pulling down the national average. Rural development ministry is contemplating "monthly monitoring' for Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Bihar, after a performance review found that these states were falling short of their potential for job guarantee scheme. It would be an embarrassment for the four states as the RD ministry holds a quarterly NREGA monitoring for all. The officer-incharge from state comes for discussions with his