UPA-II's ambitious programme to make the nation slum-free within five years is all set to take off as the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry has finalised the scheme, and how now sent it to finance ministry for approval. Last year, the government had announced the launch of Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) aimed at making cities slum-free, addressing the problems of slum-dwellers and urban poor in a definitive and holistic manner....
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In 22 UP districts, teen girls to get help with food, studies by Tarannum Manjul
Adolescent girls from 22 districts of the state will now get Centre’s support to continue education and receive complete nutrition. The Centre has chosen 22 districts from Uttar Pradesh to implement the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent girls (RGSEAG-Sabla). To be formally launched across 200 districts in the country from mid-November, the scheme aims to empower out-of-school girls ¿ by educating them and providing them with nutritional support. The Department...
More »Poverty figure fight at Sonia’s door by Moushumi Das Gupta
The list of cabinet ministers unhappy with the Planning Commission's view on various policy matters seems to be growing longer. The latest to join it is Housing and Poverty Alleviation Minister, Kumari Selja, who has taken a dispute between her ministry and the Planning Commission over redefining India's urban poverty estimate to UPA president Sonia Gandhi. Sources said Selja wrote to Gandhi in August last week. "The minister has sent a...
More »India's urban poor worse off than rural poor: Poverty Allevation Minister (Interview)
The poor in India's cities are in many ways worse off than those in rural areas, says Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja, pointing out that the urban population is set to double in the next 25 years to over 600 million. 'About 300 million people live in towns and cities underserved by utilities, with inadequate housing and increasingly choking traffic. The condition of the urban poor is by...
More »26 workers from eastern UP held captive in Malaysia by Rajiv Srivastava
About 26 Indians "most of them from eastern UP" have been held hostage near Malaysian city Ipoh for over a week now. According to reports, the hostages have been confined to a room surrounded by hills covered with dense forests. All that they are being given is rice, salt, a few biscuits to eat and water from flush tank to drink. Besides, they have been tied to each other so...
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