-The Economic Times   The Union cabinet is likely to clear the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011 next week and it is likely to be tabled in Parliament in the ongoing monsoon session itself. Minister of rural development Jairam Ramesh met with nine cabinet ministers on Thursday to finalise the contents of the draft bill. These include finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P Chidambaram, minister for tribal affairs Kishore Chand...

-The Indian Express   Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh Friday hinted at introducing the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Bill, 2011, in the current session of Parliament by cutting short the period of public consultation on it. “The revised draft Bill was sent for inter-ministerial consultation on August 12. I hope to get Cabinet approval by the first week of September,” he said, hoping to introduce the Bill in the current...

Bringing an aggressive outlook to the ministry of rural development, Jairam Ramesh, who took charge of the portfolio in July, has attempted to address and fast-track contentious issues such as the proposed land acquisition legislation and the census for identifying households below the poverty line (BPL). Ramesh spoke in an interview about his blueprint for the ministry and revisiting controversial elements, including identifying the poor and poverty caps imposed by...

-PTI   All major agrarian states are facing shortage of farm labourers due to factors like implementation of NREGA and migration of labours to urban areas for better job prospects, Parliament was informed today. "All major agricultural producing states where rural employment generation programmes are being implemented are facing this problem (labour shortage)," Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply to Lok Sabha. Factors such as implementation of Mahatma...

The bidirectional relationship between economic development and health justifies greater investment in the health sector. The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has been described as one of the largest and most ambitious programmes to revive health care in the world and has many achievements to its credit. It seeks to provide universal access to health care, which is affordable, equitable, and of good quality. It has increased health finance, improved infrastructure...