-The Hindu   Has addressed issues of sex selection, infant-maternal mortality, child health A Dalit woman sarpanch elected to an unreserved seat in Bikaner district of Rajasthan has successfully brought gender issues to the mainstream development discourse with the help of a Jaipur-based advocacy group. She has addressed the crucial subjects of sex selection, infant and maternal mortality and reproductive and child health by focusing on gender fostering. Tara Devi, elected as Sarpanch of...

The Union rural development ministry has decided to ape Planning Commission's discussion with states for annual finances to send a stronger message about Centre's authorship on welfare schemes, a move aimed at addressing the longstanding gripe of Congress that states were cornering all the credit. The ministry has asked states to prepare for "annual plan discussion for RD schemes" from 2012, a consultation to finalise their budget for each scheme...

-IANS The government is considering creating a corpus fund of Rs.1,000 crore ($18.7 million) in the current fiscal that would encourage banks to give housing loans in 'significant volumes' to the urban poor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday. Addressing a conference on the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) here, Manmohan Singh said the corpus of Rs.1,000 would be set aside to create a credit risk guarantee fund that could...

Minority welfare schemes should target not districts but smaller units like hamlets and urban wards so that nobody passes under the radar, Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council has told the Centre. The Centre’s 15-point programme for minorities, based on Sachar Committee recommendations, aims at multi-sector development in 90 districts with large minority populations. But the council believes this approach misses many who most need help while many non-minority residents reap indirect...

Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh will visit Jungle Mahal on Saturday and meet Mamata Banerjee in Calcutta on Sunday to finalise a development package for the Maoist zone. The idea is to take up Jungle Mahal as a test case for the two-pronged approach of development and police action to rein in the rebels. The state government recently decided to resume counter-Maoist operations in the region. Ramesh will visit West Midnapore...