-The Hindustan Times The CAG has found several shortcomings in the implementation of the first UPA government’s Rs. 52,500-crore farm loan waiver scheme — while thousands of ineligible farmers got the benefit, many eligible applicants were left out. The CAG report, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, disclosed that it had audited 80,299 beneficiaries across 25 states, which was less than 1% of the total 34.5 million recipients. The scheme had two components —...

-Outlook Expressing serious concern over the implementation of Rs 52,000-crore farm debt waiver scheme, government auditor CAG today said in several cases ineligible farmers were given benefit while deserving ones were left out. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has also found instances of tampering of records and pulled up the Department of Financial Services (DFS) in the Finance Ministry for deficient monitoring of the multi-crore scheme. "Overall, the Performance Audit revealed that in...

-The Economic Tiomes Farmers borrowing crop loans from private banks will also get government's interest subvention scheme, finance minister P Chidambaram said in his 2013 Budget speech. At present, farmers used to get crop loans at a subsidised 4% a year rate from public sector banks, regional banks and cooperative banks if they repay in time. Farmers who repay loans in time, gets an additional 1% interest subvention from the government over and...

-The Times of India THENI: Villages near Bodi Hills in Tamil Nadu are seeing a quiet revolution in animal-rearing facilitated by technology. Many women in these villages, who are involved in goat farming, are harnessing the power of the cell phone, for managing their herds better. Every day, they receive about five voice messages on their mobile phones about scientific methods of goat rearing which they say, have helped them improve...

-The Hindu All districts, except Chennai, declared drought-hit; work days under MGNREGS increased to 150 Chennai: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced in the Assembly on Friday that all districts in the State other than Chennai would be declared drought-hit and unveiled a host of relief measures that would cost about Rs. 2,143.60 crore, focussing on the crisis-ridden Cauvery delta. Ms. Jayalalithaa said the number of days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural...