Directive comes in the wake of turmoil in Greater Noida Supplementing political offensive with a dose of administrative endeavour, in the build-up to the next round of Assembly elections, focussed on Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minster Manmohan Singh has asked Union Minister for Rural Development Vilasrao Deshmukh to finalise at the earliest the two amended Bills on land acquisition and rehabilitation and resettlement. Confirming Dr. Singh's directive, Mr. Deshmukh told The Hindu...

Govt orders 600,000 hand-held electronic devices to reduce scope for error and expedite the census process For the first time, the census to identify below poverty line (BPL) families will be conducted using hand-held electronic devices. The initiative of the rural development ministry is expected to reduce scope for error and expedite the census process. The identification of BPL households is critical for individuals to be eligible for welfare programmes such as getting...

In India you have quality standards specifications for soft drinks, but none for potable water. The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, under the Ministry of Rural Development, is now seeking to correct the record, and, thankfully, the exercise will cover urban habitations too. The department has found the current legal environment for enforcing and regulating drinking water standards very weak in the country as they focus on issues related to...

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have blamed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) for shortage of labour, which has led to increase in input cost of the products and eating into profit margins. "Now a days there is scarcity of labourers by 25 to 30 percent in SMEs. There is a high percentage of unskilled labour, which forms the core of employee recruitment in the local small and...

The government is examining the possibility of turning its two important social sector programmes into universal schemes covering the unorganised sector in phases, taking a cue from the successful extension of a health insurance plan to 23 million poor families. The labour ministry will prepare a feasibility plan together with the rural and finance ministries that run the old age pension scheme for the below poverty line people and the Aam...