The Centre's strategy to revamp the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) to counter the problem of Left-Wing Extremism seems to have run into a rough patch within the Planning Commission. Due to the slow movement in the commission's consideration of his proposal to execute the IAP by the block rather than by the district, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has written to its Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, asking him to...

While some may view the food security Bill as the instrument of combating poverty, this distinction belongs to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the flagship anti-poverty programme of the United Progressive Alliance government. The proponents of the food security Bill at the National Advisory Council have promoted it as the instrument of fighting widespread and rising hunger, instead. But what is the empirical basis of the claims of widespread and...

-The Deccan Chronicle   As the year 2011 comes to an end, the ministry of rural development is yet to find answers to slippage within the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). However, Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh gave a new approach by unveiling new policies for the Naxal-affected areas. Taking charge of the ministry later in the middle of the year, Mr Ramesh highlighted that the demand for the job...

-The Hindu   Right to Information (RTI) activist R. Marijoseph has alleged that Hassan Taluk Panchayat Executive Officer threatened to kill him for seeking information about irregularities in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). Speaking to presspersons here on Saturday, Mr. Marijoseph said the Dalit Vimochana Manava Hakkugala Vedike, under his leadership, had staged a protest on Thursday, demanding inquiry into irregularities in projects under MNREGA in many gram panchayats...

-PTI The agriculture sector performed exceedingly well in 2011, with record grain production of over 240 million tonnes giving enough leeway for the government to lift a ban on exports of wheat and non-basmati rice and introduce the food security bill in Parliament. Farmers’ long-standing demand for crop loans at a 4% rate of interest was met during the year, although with a rider that the facility would be available to...