-ANI About 75 tribal groups have been identified and categorized as particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) by the government. To cater to their overall wellbeing and development, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has further revised the Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) Scheme to provide 100 percent financial assistance through state governments. The scheme focuses on activities such as housing, land distribution, land and agricultural development, animal husbandry, the construction of link...

-Hindustan Times The picture of rural Indian life today that emerges from what is probably the world's largest study ever of household deprivation is sobering and sombre. It describes a massive hinterland still imprisoned in persisting endemic impoverishment, want, illiteracy and indeed hopelessness. It tells a story that every thinking and caring Indian must heed. Advocates of free markets, opposed to building a welfare state, have long argued that accelerated market-led economic...

-Business Standard The statement of the tribal affairs ministry is contrary to its position stated repeatedly over the past year Whether consent from tribal village councils is essential before using forests could hinge on a case being heard by the National Green Tribunal on the Thoubal multipurpose dam project, which has been under construction since 1989 in Manipur. The tribal affairs ministry has told the court it does not have the power or...

-PTI Sources in Congress said that it had sought restoration of the consent of 80 per cent of land owners to be obtained for private projects and that of 70 per cent for PPP ones. Congress, CPI-M and JD-U have sought a "total withdrawal" of proposed changes by the NDA government in the 2013 Land Act and inclusion of some additional measures to further strengthen the law in favour of farmers. In...

-The Indian Express According to the note, the “revised stand” would be the basis for a presentation to be made by the ministry before the Joint Committee of Parliament on the land bill. Taking a major step back on amendments to the land bill, the government proposes to bring back the consent and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) clauses and drop its contentious move to exempt five broad categories of projects from...