-The Telegraph Thiruvananthapuram: The NDA government's economic survey has referred to a stalled airport project in Kerala as a live one, shocking the local Sangh parivar that sees its success in blocking the plan as a feather in its cap. The Sangh's efforts had led to the National Green Tribunal quashing the previous UPA government's environmental clearance to the private airport project at Aranmula, a Unesco Global Heritage Village in Pathanamthitta district,...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Budget for huge increase in DBT -Puja Mehra
-The Indian Express Benefits of Rs.33,000 crore will flow every year to the accounts of beneficiaries The Union Budget 2015-16 proposes a 10-fold scaling up of direct benefit transfers (DBT) during the next financial year as a key expenditure control measure. The move is expected to lead to accurate targeting of beneficiaries, de-duplication, reduction of fraud and elimination of waste and leakage in public programmes and schemes. The total number of beneficiaries under 35...
More »Govt's bid to dilute tribal rights to help industry -Nitin Sethi
-Business Standard Environment ministry readies draft, which allows industry to fell trees in traditional forest areas without consent of gram sabhas After a lot of back and forth, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is ready with a notification to dilute tribal rights that would make it possible for most industries to chop down traditional forests without the consent of gram sabhas - a precondition that exists at the moment. After the Prime...
More »Whose national interest? -Nandini Sundar
-The Indian Express Indian National Interest requires that our environment be ruined, people displaced, resources thoughtlessly mined, all for the benefit of foreign companies and for the private benefit of people in power. This is the only conclusion that we can draw after reading the recent revelations on Essar alongside the ministry of home affairs (MHA) affidavit in the Delhi High Court responding to Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai's plea that her...
More »Social spending cut first time in a decade
-Hindustan Times The government slashed plan expenditure by about 20% in the 2015-16 budget amid fiscal concerns, hitting spending on social sectors such as education and women's empowerment that were the focus areas of the previous UPA administration. In the 2014-15 budget, Arun Jaitley allocated Rs. 5,75,000 crore for plan expenditure, or money that goes towards creation of productive assets, but could spare only Rs. 4,65,277 crore this time. This is also...
More »