“Mistakes are obviously committed while undertaking big projects and we are open to corrections,” said Lavasa Corporation Limited (LCL) Chairman Ajit Gulabchand for the time first time on Friday since the controversy over the hill city started. However, he added that “these corrections should not make business impossible.” Mr. Gulabchand was speaking to the media after meeting a team of experts from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) which was...

The social audit of development work under the MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat, Ajmer, has confirmed the Rs 56-lakh embezzlement found by the district administration in a recent enquiry. The findings were read out at the social audit gram sabha on Thursday. The Todgarh panchayat is close to Malaton Ki Weir, also in Ajmer, where anomalies amounting to Rs 1.41 crore was uncovered during a special audit last year. "The scale...

If home minister P Chidambaram’s recent letter to West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is any indication, it has taken the Union home ministry seven years to realise that arming civilians to fight Naxalites is a bad idea. How much longer will it take for them to realise that the current paramilitary-based approach in Chhattisgarh is similarly bound to fail? From 2003 onwards, the home ministry has followed a policy of...

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rurual Development (NABARD) will pay greater focus on financing through 'Joint Liability Groups' (JLs) in Kerala as it is found more effective way of priority sector lending. JLs are informal groups of even 4-10 individuals joining together for the purpose of availing bank loans through group mechanisms against mutual guarantee. According to NABARD's State Credit Plan 2011-12, financial inclusion through JLGs would be deepened in partnerships...

The Experts Group chaired by the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman, C. Rangarajan, favours mandatory entitlement of subsidised foodgrains to the ‘priority' category (Below the Poverty Line) as recommended by the National Advisory Council (NAC). But the Group does not think that it is feasible to extend to the ‘general' category (Above the Poverty Line) legal entitlement of subsidised foodgrains under the Public Distribution System (PDS). The panel has suggested...