The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) set up to finance agriculture and rural development, has been giving evasive replies to specific questions raised by the Union finance ministry and by Parliament on the nature of recommendations made by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to restructure the bank. Some MPs believe that the restructuring violates the role mandated for Nabard by Parliament. DNA earlier reported that the restructuring/repositioning of Nabard...

-The Hindu If only laws could eliminate all that they prohibit, India would have been free of the scourge of manual scavenging decades ago. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Bill, which is to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament, is another attempt to prevent employment of people in the cleaning, handling or carrying of human excreta. Despite the renewed stress on rehabilitation in the...

Rural secondary school students in the Northeast have better reading and arithmetic skills than the rest of the nation, an education survey has revealed, though the numerical knowledge in some states of the region is below the national average. The survey was conducted by volunteers of the Annual Status of Education Report under a Delhi-based NGO, Pratham, for the Union human resource development ministry. Among the Northeast states, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland,...

-The Times of India Ramgarh: A team of officials from Union Ministry of Rural Development visited the Maoist-hit villages of Mandu block on Friday and expressed satisfaction over implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in remote villages of the district. The central team headed by rural development ministry joint director N Murugnanam along with state MGNREGA commissioner Satish Kumar and Ramgarh DC visited Burhakhap, Ambatand...

West Bengal Chief Minister sought refinancing for 18,000-km PMGSY roads Aggravating the face-off between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has shot down West Bengal's demand for financing anew 18,000 km ofmurram (red sand) roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The West Bengal Road Department Secretary demanded at a meeting that the Ministry refinance the entire murram roads in the State, charging that these...