Honey hubs to be created for SC/STs at Kodaikanal, Vadipatti and Kadayam Priority for small projects in the range of Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 3 lakh Emphasis on production of fly-ash bricks and palm products The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) plans to focus on creating employment opportunities for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) in rural areas of southern districts. The Central Government body plans to start new khadi institutions near their habitations...

In April, India’s Planning Commission accepted recommendations put forth by the so-called Tendulkar Committee on a new poverty headcount for the country. Constituted by the Planning Commission under economist Suresh D Tendulkar, the committee, after four years and a new methodology, arrived at a new figure for the number of Indians living below the poverty line: 37.2 percent, ten points higher than the previous official figure. With the government’s subsequent...

The Union budget estimates the nominal rate of growth for the Indian economy to be 12.5 per cent during the current fiscal. While it is impossible to figure out the manner in which this number was arrived at, the government has predicted further that the inflation-adjusted real growth rate for the same year will be eight per cent. Simple arithmetic requires that the difference between the nominal and real growth...

Rural level micro plans will be chalked out for sustainable exploitation of natural resources and making rain-fed agriculture profitable. Under the micro plans, several works of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will be taken up in an integrated way with the convergence of other government schemes and programmes. This information was given by Principal Secretary R. Parshuram while addressing a workshop at Academy of Administration here today. The...

At Bopara, around five or six youths assaulted Bhoop Singh with lathis on Tuesday. The victim, who is a Dalit and a relative of the newly-elected sarpanch, also named Bhoop Singh, was beaten up following a verbal duel on the ongoing controversy over the recently conducted panchayat elections. The sarpanch had triggered the casteist row by participating in the polls despite a call for boycott on the ground that all...