“MGNREGS should move from relief work mode to one that blends natural resources and labour” to build productive assets The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), which went into hibernation in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson's absence, has been reactivated. On September 14, it despatched its recommendations on strengthening the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to the government; it wants the scheme to move from its “relief work...

-The Hindu   Faced with strong protests from farmers and a demand from the Maharashtra government, the Centre on Tuesday announced the lifting of the ban on export of onions with immediate effect. The decision was taken by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. “Ban on onion export has been lifted,'' Union Minister for Science and Technology Vilasrao Deshmukh told journalists after the meeting. Union Agriculture...

Seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act is all set to get easier. Adding a “smart” layer to the process of applying for information, the Karnataka Government has decided to set up a business process outsourcing centre to handle all applications, enquiries, and even billing. Streamlining the entire process through a website and a call centre, this project, which is pending Cabinet approval, will simplify the current application process...

-IANS   Goa's illegal mining scandal is worth Rs10,000 crore ($2 billion), former deputy chief minister of Goa and Congress legislator Dayanand Narvekar on Saturday told the Justice MB Shah commission probing the scam. Narvekar, who was a cabinet minister in Chief Minister Digambar Kamat's Congress-led government until a couple of years ago, also told Shah during a public hearing at the state secretariat that constant complaints in writing to the state chief...

The Karnataka government, which is in the thick of controversy over acquisition of land for several big-ticket investors, is in no mood to accept certain changes proposed in the new Land Acquisition and Resettlement & Rehabilitation Bill tabled in Parliament last week. Instead, the government is in the process of revamping its existing land acquisition policy. The state government is not agreeable to the 80 per cent consent norm proposed in...