-The Financial Express MGNREGA must be tweaked in implementation, not design. Before his tragic demise, the Union minister for rural development, Gopinath Munde, gave a clear indication of the new government's priorities on MGNREGA. Both these priorities are vital: using the programme for the creation of productive assets to combat drought and poverty and ensuring timely payment of wages. More than two decades of liberalisation and high economic growth have left India...

-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday kicked off online environment clearances for industrial and infrastructure projects which have for long been hobbled by the slow pace of green approvals. As part of the transition to an e-window mechanism, for the next three weeks, project developers will be required to submit a hard copy of the application besides filing it online. From July 1, the system will be fully...

-The Telegraph   June 23, 2013: Ranchi is honoured at the e-India Governance Summit in Hyderabad for best use of information and communication technology in rural development June 2, 2014: The capital district is grappling with a backlog of more than 4,500 applications for online services such as issuing of birth, death and caste certificates The abysmal sign of regression has taken Ranchi district authorities, hitherto engrossed with one of the country's most historic...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Rajnath Singh, who assumed charge as home minister on Thursday, has hinted at the possibility of looking at the merger of the National Population Register (NPR) exercise and Aadhar scheme. During his first interaction with ministry officials, Singh is said to have asked for suggestions on how the two schemes could be made "complementary" so as to eliminate any duplicity between them. Incidentally, the UPA's flagship Aadhar...

-Outlook   Koraput (Odisha): Many labourers engaged under the centrally-sponsored Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Odisha's Koraput district alleged that 334 of them have not received wages though six months had passed since the end of their work. The labourers from Podai Khodra, Joba, Bagkhodra and Golariguda villages under Boipariguda block's Kathpada panchayat constructed an 8 km road between Mantriambo and Joba. The road work was completed in November 2013. "Each...