Farmers will not have to cough up any tax upfront on the compensation money they receive for their land acquired by the government. The Rural Development Ministry has clarified after complaints that in absence of clear rules the harshest provisions were being imposed. "We have issued orders that all compensation money for agricultural land acquisitions in both urban and rural areas should be made without any deductions," said an official in...
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Ramesh clears rural roads plan for Bihar by Ruhi Tewari
Union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh approved a plan to build a network of roads in rural Bihar under the ministry’s Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, clearing some of the hurdles that were holding up the construction. The ministry’s empowered panel on the rural road programme cleared the revised “core network” of roads for Bihar on 14 September. The core network includes all rural roads necessary to provide basic access to...
More »Centre woos professionals for better execution of programmes, schemes
With the bureaucratic machinery failing to deliver desired results, the Centre is tapping professionals from the open market to ensure better implementation of its flagship programmes, National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and MGNREGA at both national and State level. It has invited letters for Expression of Interest (EOI) from qualified and experienced consultancy firms for management support for the NRLM which aims to mobilise seven crore below poverty level (BPL) households...
More »Will Jairam Ramesh's new plan fix NREGA? by Sreelatha Menon
The new rural development minister wants to use technology to force states to make payments. Critics suggest that he should fix existing problems first. Jairam Ramesh is not afraid of stirring things up. Sixty days into his stint as the new Rural Development Minister, Ramesh, he has unveiled what he calls NREGA 2.0, a reform package that he feels would make the Rs 40,000 crore programme actually work. Ramesh has put together...
More »Govt mulls private participation in NREGA by Mayur Shekhar Jha
Five years after the government launched its flagship job creation programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is set to get a make-over. Sources tell NDTV that government is mulling private sector participation. Under a new draft the government will continue to pay 100 days of wages, and companies will only have to pick up a wage bill for the remaining 265 days. Cottage, small scale and medium sized...
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