As minister for rural development, Jairam Ramesh oversees the largest spending in the social sector by the government. This includes the marquee Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) that was pioneered by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance in 2006. The minister, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is known for his forthrightness. In a typically candid interview to Mint on...
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Small Indian hill state aims to improve agricultural livelihoods with UN loan
-The United Nations India is receiving a loan of nearly $90 million from the United Nations to improve agricultural livelihoods in the small north-western state of Uttarakhand, one of the poorest areas in the country. The money, resulting from an agreement signed today between the Government and the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will go towards the Integrated Livelihoods Support Project, which aims to support and develop the food production...
More »National Infant Mortality Rate Reduces Further-To Forty Seven
-Press Information Bureau As per the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin, December 2011 released by the Registrar General of India (RGI), it is noted that Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has dropped further by 3 points from 50 to 47 infants deaths per 1000 live births during 2010. The IMR for rural areas has dropped by 4 points from 55 to 51 infant deaths per 1000 live births while the Urban...
More »Corruption in NREGA cannot be ignored: Sonia Gandhi
-The Indian Express Pitching for immediate reforms in the Centre's flagship rural job scheme MGNREGA, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said the complaints of corruption and irregularities regarding the scheme cannot be ignored. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Gandhi also expressed concern over the delay in wage payment to MGNREGA workers, emphasising the need to ensure that they get it within 15 days. "Talks about reform in MGNREGA have been on for quite...
More »What Azadi means: Findings from a first-ever Home Ministry survey of Kashmiri youth by Riyaz Wani
Valley’s youth say peaceful political protests are the most effective means for achieving political aspirations. Estrangement from India is matched by the lack of interest in Pakistan In 2010 the Ministry of Home Affairs had commissioned a focussed survey on the priorities and aspirations of Kashmir’s new generation, which had spearheaded the long spell of unrest, and found that 54 per cent of them identified “Azadi” as their preferred “final status...
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