Each to be given a block grant of Rs. 25 crore With the aim of giving a fillip to development schemes in tribal and backward regions, mostly affected by Naxal violence, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Friday approved the commencement of an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) in 60 selected districts. The IAP would be an additional central assistance scheme on a 100 per cent grant basis. It is aimed...

The two day 43rd Session of the Indian Labour Conference (ILC), the apex national tripartite body that discusses key issues affecting labour and employment and provides policy perspectives and recommendations, concluded in New Delhi today. The Conference was inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Tuesday 23rd November 2010. Senior level representatives of the three pillars of the tripartism, Trade Unions, Employers’ Associations and Government, participated in the deliberations...

The income and asset details furnished by ministers to Prime Minister’s Office for 2009-10 have some surprising claims. Textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran, whose family owns a media empire, is worth just Rs 6.87 crore. His assets include a Mercedes E class valued at Rs 8.10 lakh and a Toyota Innova at Rs 12.24 lakh. He is not the only who has modest assets. Minister of new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah...

'Journalists are only expected to be witnesses.'' While the 2G spectrum scandal has unfolded, it has exposed the involvement of a number of individuals, offices and institutions in different ways in it. Irregularities of such massive proportions could not been planned and resorted to by a minister and some bureaucrats. The prime minister was told by the supreme court to explain his delay in acting on a request for action against the...

The government must stop dilly-dallying over the project and apply the law regardless of the fact that it is India's single largest foreign investment proposal. TWO giant metallurgical projects, both in Orissa. Both promoted by big multinational corporations with tremendous influence. Both opposed by environmental and tribal rights activists because they would displace vulnerable people and destroy fragile ecosystems. Both backed strongly by State-level and national lobbies that claim they...