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

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's pet project

Mr. Sashi Kumar with his branded honey bottles in his lab. Income generation is important for any agricultural activity. What farmers need is a remunerative income (not minimum income) for their produce, and honeybee rearing fits the slot too well. It has been proven to increase a farmer's income by 50-60 per cent under favourable conditions. It requires little investment, no land, and is not labour intensive. It is particularly suited as an income-generating activity for women, young people, and the landless. Production

Assam and Jammu & Kashmir received the highest allocation of additional funds for police modernisation during the last fiscal. Twenty-four States had demanded a total of Rs 537.91 crore additional funds but the Centre allocated Rs 346.28 crore only based in their utilisation of funds in 2006-07 and funds available at the revised Budget estimates. Assam got the highest allocation of additional funds of Rs 30.61 crore even as it demanded Rs 37.70 crore for modernising its forces in the fight against insurgency, a senior official said.

Microsoft is the most familiar term in the proprietary software industry. The company's penetration in people's minds is so deep that it is often considered the only player in the market. It is even mistaken as a software. But this scenario could be changing. The world over free and open source software (FOSS) is being adopted as an alternative. But, in India, though states such as Kerala are fully converted, the centre lags behind.

New Delhi: A high-powered committee set up by the Planning Commission has said that people's discontent and failure of the system has led to the growth of Naxalism.

For an outpost town with little hope, it's nothing short of a miracle. Just some 20 km away from the Nepal border, Narkatiaganj village is one of Bihar's dens of extortion and kidnapping. But a bit more reassuring picture emerges when you visit its primary health centre (PHC), buzzing with activity as seven doctors attend to nearly 300 patients a day.

Commercial cultivation of the "green gold'

UPA's move may come three years late

Going, going, almost gone. But never quite. It's a pattern that's repeating itself with an ugly regularity. Just as Mumbai begins to hope that it is finally getting rid of the spectre of polio, a case pops up in some slum. And it is back to square one, with renewed mass immunisation drives, door-to-door rounds and mop up programmes.