-The Telegraph The Prime Minister today expressed surprise that “concurrent evaluation” of the rural job scheme was “not in good shape” and asked Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to “apply his mind to making good this deficiency”. Concurrent evaluation is an assessment of a scheme’s impact, strength and weaknesses while it is being implemented, as distinct from the annual CAG audit or a post-mortem. Its objective is to identify problems...

-PTI Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the issue of delayed payment to workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) should be addressed at the earliest, and sought concurrent audit of rural development schemes. ”I am surprised to hear from (Rural Development Minister) Jairam Ramesh that concurrent evaluation processes are not in good shape. When I was in the Planning Commission long ago, I think we have started the...

-The Telegraph The Centre today announced fresh guidelines to protect the rights of forest dwellers and “undo” years of “injustice” these tribal people have had to face over claims on land and minor produce. Sources said the Union tribal affairs ministry, which issued the guidelines, felt the implementation of the forest rights act (FRA) had been “poor” on the ground. “The FRA aims to undo the historic injustice made against the tribal people...

-The United Nations Higher demand for food due to population growth, urban migration and other factors will require countries to increase their productivity, according to a new report co-authored by the United Nations, which warns that without more supplies, prices will rise significantly. “Higher demand will be met increasingly by supplies that come to market at higher cost. With farmland area expected to expand only slightly in the coming decade, additional production...

-The Telegraph Ranchi, July 6: Nagri villagers leading a violent agitation against proposed campuses of three national institutes of learning do not want political leaders to hijack their movement to get back the 218 acres acquired by the government in the ’50s. “Leaders like Dayamami Barla, Bandhu Tirkey, Stan Swami etc have misled us by saying they would find a legal and political solution to the problem. But the result is that...