-ANI   Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has said his ministry will be generating a rank of rural households and not conduct a Below Poverty Line (BPL) survey. Speaking to mediapersons here on Monday, Ramesh said his ministry is only responsible for the rank ordering.   "We will generate a rank ordering of rural households, which will be given to the state governments. Our responsibility stops there. It is the state government that is then going...

The Union government on Monday asked the States to prepare a below Poverty Line (BPL) list by March, census for which is now on, so that the needy are readied to enjoy the benefits to be rolled out under the 12th Five Year Plan. Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh hoped the States would prepare the list at the earliest. The Centre would, by December-end, complete its exercise of generating...

-PTI   The Centre will soon initiate the consultation process with the state governments on the draft National Food Security Bill that aims to provide legal right on subsidised foodgrains to 68 per cent of India's population. "We will at the earliest start the consultation process with the states. The law ministry has already vetted the draft bill and the same has been communicated to the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee," Food Minister K...

Members of Parliament, cutting across party lines, have demanded an increase in the wages and workdays of the beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, one of the flagship programmes of the UPA government, so as to insulate them from the galloping inflation. The demands were made by the members, including those of the ruling Congress-led ruling coalition, at a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee on the...

CGNet Swara in Chhattisgarh is a mobile radio platform that has helped bring tribal issues to national attention. MAHADEV SINGH, a Baiga tribal person, hails from a village situated atop a forested hill near Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. While most of the neighbouring villages are electrified and welfare schemes from the government reach them to an extent, Mahadev's village has lost out in this regard owing to its inaccessibility. Mahadev and his...