New-look programme to be rolLED out in 2,000 most backward blocks within a year As part of a coordinated and aligned initiative, the Sonia Gandhi-LED National Advisory Council, a re-energised Union Rural Development Ministry and the Planning Commission are working in tandem to make up for the time and money lost due to the underperformance in UPA-II on the government's flagship programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Even as...

In keeping with the government's promise to bring Lokpal legislation to Parliament in the monsoon session, the Cabinet will consider a bill to set up the anti-corruption ombudsman at its meeting on Thursday. The draft bill, framed by five ministers, who were on the joint drafting committee with the Anna Hazare-LED group of representatives, does not contain the references to the prime minister, higher judiciary and actions of MPs in Parliament...

Community initiative tackles perennial problem of groundwater salinity In a rare community-driven initiative, the residents of a nondescript village near Deeg in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan have solved the perennial problem of groundwater salinity by laying a one-km cement pipeline to get the Yamuna river waters from a feeder canal situated nearby. The small Madhera village had been facing difficulty in getting clean and pure water for both drinking and irrigation for...

-The Economic Times   In a move aimed at getting theTrinamool Congress on board, the Centre's draft land acquisition and rehabilitation bill has suggested giving states the leeway to decide on who acquires the land. At the same time, in an effort to strengthen its aam aadmi quotient, the Congress-LED UPA government's draft states that irrespective of who acquires the land, affected persons of all acquisitions of 100 acres or more...

Days before the draft Lokpal bill is expected to be put before the Union Cabinet for its consideration, the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) headed by Aruna Roy has begun lobbying for its version of the anti-corruption legislation. Roy and her colleagues met with law minister and government representative on the joint drafting panel Salman Khursheed on Tuesday and are likely to meet HRD minister Kapil Sibal...