The Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council (NAC) has pinned its hopes on the new food minister, K.V. Thomas, to see its version of the food security bill past Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The NAC’s perpetual grouse was that Thomas’ predecessor, Sharad Pawar, was not only indifferent but also opposed the idea of social inclusion in the food sector, and managed to convince the...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Total Matching Records found : 2162
Budget 2011: NREGA outlay likely to stay flat this year by Deepshikha Sikarwar
The forthcoming budget is unlikely to propose a steep hike in allocation of funds for the government's flagship rural welfare scheme despite a sharp increase in the wage rates under it. The finance ministry is likely to allocate only 42,000-45,000 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a government official told ET. The scheme will have an opening balance of about 10,000 crore, the official said. This precludes...
More »Scorching the earth by Praful Bidwai
The Environment Ministry's clearance of projects such as Posco, Jaitapur and Lavasa will cause havoc in our gravely endangered environment. EVEN the worst pessimist could not have imagined that the January 31 order of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) approving the South Korean-origin company Posco's steel project in Orissa would be as bad as it actually is. Construction of the Rs.54,000-crore steel plant, its captive power unit and private...
More »NAC to counter Rangarajan panel's criticism of its recommendations by Smita Gupta
Key issue will be legal guarantees for food entitlements for “general” category In what looks like more trouble for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) has decided to take head on the Rangarajan committee's criticism of its now-controversial recommendations on food security. It will take the first step by presenting a point-by-point rebuttal of the panel's critique to the new Food Minister, K.V. Thomas, on...
More »Identifying a billion Indians
IN A small village north-west of Bangalore, peasants queue for identities. Each man fills in a form with his name and rough date of birth, or gets someone who can read to do it for him. He places his fingertips on one scanner and stares at another. A photograph of his face is snapped. These images are uploaded to a computer. Within a few weeks he will have an identity...
More »
