Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday cleared the decks for a huge fund outlay which is set to bolster Bihar's rural infrastructure. Speaking to journalists here, Mr. Ramesh said the Union Rural Ministry would pump in Rs. 2,500 crore for laying of over 6,500 km of rural roads across the State for fiscal 2011-12. “Bihar is a top priority for us with Rs. 8,000 crore being allotted from the Central...

-Rediff.com    The last six to seven years of the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar has not seen any significant increase in Maoist violence, which nevertheless continues to take a toll of lives and government property. According to figures compiled by the state police headquarters, in 2008, the Maoists destroyed three government buildings, blasted railway tracks at six places, besides two private buildings, torched five JCB machines used in road construction and 12...

How economically sustainable is food subsidy? The cost could even be double of what the government estimates Food deprivation and malnutrition are completely unacceptable and everything has to be done to eliminate such an evil. The prevalence of malnutrition in a country like India is in itself a cause for serious concern since malnourished children may jeopardise India’s favourable demographic dividend (as per independent estimates, close to 60 per cent of...

-ENS Economic Bureau   Estimates on black money stashed away by Indians is still very much a grey area. So when the CBI Director emphatically declared on Monday that $500 billion of illegal money belonging to Indians was deposited in tax havens abroad, the figure caused more than a mild flutter.   Mainly because the information currently available on the black money economy is way too disparate and vague. Considering the available evidence, the...

 Worried at the prospect of having to match the arbitrary minimum wage rate fixed by the states, the Central Government is considering changes in the law to specify a separate wage norms for its flagship rural employment guarantee scheme that is undergoing a complete makeover under minister Jairam Ramesh.  The centre has already contested in the Supreme Court a Karnataka High Court interim order directing it to align wage rates under...