Even as the Opposition parties' allegations of financial bungling in implementation of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in Uttar Pradesh have pushed the Bahujan Samaj Party regime on the back foot, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has warned that direct transfer of funds from the Central Government to the State's implementing agencies is “fraught with the risk of their improper utilisation by these agencies”. The CAG report...
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Intelligent design for the environment by Prodipto Ghosh
The announcement last weekend by the prime minister that an independent National Environmental Appraisal and Monitoring Agency (NEAMA) would shortly be set up has been welcomed in the media. The PM indicates that it would be staffed by professionals, will set up a new process for environmental appraisal of projects, and monitor the observance of environmental management plans. It would be a recommendatory body, subject to final decision-making by the...
More »‘We need a regulatory framework that does not become licence permit raj’ by Manmohan Singh
In the past 50 years or so, we have come face to face with unusual climatic occurrences, weather changes and environmental disasters. These are a corollary of the global pursuit of rapid growth, in particular rapid growth of industrialisation, and very often the mindless and predatory exploitation of natural resources. These have happened across the world, without distinguishing between rich and poor nations... In the increasingly integrated world that we live...
More »Banks may be paid for MGNREGS accounts by Remya Nair
The government plans to pay `80 every year for three years to state-owned banks for each account they have for a beneficiary of the rural job guarantee scheme. This is expected to provide an incentive to lenders to ensure quicker delivery of wages under India’s flagship welfare programme. “We have made a proposal to the finance ministry that a public sector bank gets paid `80 per year for each MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi...
More »Record output of foodgrains estimated; may dampen prices by Ruchira Singh
The government’s latest estimates show that foodgrain production in the crop year 2010-11 rose sharply by 10.75% to a record 241.56 million tonnes (mt), a move that could potentially have a dampening effect on inflationary expectations. The impressive increase led by wheat, maize and pulses is revealed in the final estimates for 2010-11, and is partially explained by the fact that 2009-10 was a drought year. The crop year extends from July...
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