-The Telegraph All environment-related roadblocks relating to government projects will be handled by the Prime Minister’s Office, finance minister P. Chidambaram has told a review meeting of infrastructure projects. His remark suggested the government is in a hurry to complete all infrastructure projects in time for the elections. Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan and her team appeared to be everyone’s favourite punching bag at the meeting, attended by all core infrastructure ministries, including those...

-The Telegraph Buniadpur, Aug. 31: Mamata Banerjee, who has chosen to keep the state’s hands off land acquisition, today appealed to villagers in South Dinajpur for plots to set up anganwadi centres and hinted that the government was finding it difficult to get land. The chief minister, while speaking about acquiring land for an AIIMS-like hospital, has told a rally in Itahar yesterday that she would not “put a gun to a...

-The Times of India GUWAHATI: Assam is no stranger to floods. But this deluge is the worst it has seen in many years. The first wave of floods—from April to Juneclaimed 126 lives. More than 700 animals in Kaziranga National Park and elsewhere have died. Fears of a second wave hitting soon loom large. The annual devastation comes in multiple waves in Assam—three to four—starting from April. According to the state disaster...

-The Telegraph The government today admitted that almost 95 per cent of the job to repair Aila-ravaged Embankments in the Sunderbans was unfinished because of land-related problems, a lapse that will leave seven lakh families living in South and North 24-Parganas vulnerable to floods during the monsoon. The government was supposed to build 263km of concrete Embankments by March this year but managed only 14km, primarily because of problems over land acquisition,...

The Government of India has formally launched the news Guidelines of the MGNAREGA based on the Mihir Shah Committee report. The news guidelines include many new works under conservation activities and it strengthens the hands of the village panchayats and gram sabhas. However, the list of works does not include the activities under the system of rice intensification (SRI) which encourages scientific method of paddy cultivation with better yield in...