-CNN-IBN Gandhinagar (Gujarat): A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, tabled before the Gujarat Assembly on Tuesday, notes that more than 5,000 Anganwadi centers in the state did not have toilets as of the last year. The BJP government tabled the audit report on local bodies for the year ended on March 2013 on Tuesday, the last day of the legislature's session. The performance audit of 'total sanitation campaign'...
More »SEARCH RESULT
In the greater scheme of things -Rohini Somanathan
-The Indian Express Recent announcements on possible changes to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and restrictions on its coverage are baffling and worrisome. The passing of the MGNREGA and the Right to Information Act heralded a new vision of citizenship and state responsibility. The former created a safety net for the rural poor. The latter gave taxpayers and voters an opportunity to bridge the gap between state...
More »A little irony: Don’t hype to hit headlines, Jaitley advises CAG
-The Indian Express Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said the government has learnt a valuable lesson on allotment of natural resources like coal and spectrum, but cautioned the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India against "sensationalising" its reports and creating an environment of "finger pointing". Addressing an annual conference of the CAG, Jaitley said the auditor "doesn't have to sensationalise... he doesn't have to get into the headlines." Noting that the...
More »Govt to bring in ordinance for auction of coal blocks to private firms
-The Hindustan Times The government plans to put up coal mines for bidding by private steel, power and cement companies and introduce changes in the law to enable commercial mining in the future, signalling its intent to fully open the sector to private players. The new auction-based system will replace the earlier controversial policy of allotting coal blocks based on recommendations of a panel of bureaucrats, which the Supreme Court had struck...
More »Gadkari ministry writes note trashing NREG: ‘purely partisan plan’ -Ruhi Tewari
-The Indian Express In a damning criticism of the UPA government's flagship rural job guarantee scheme, the Rural Development Ministry has said the scheme was reduced to "yet another government programme exploited for pure partisan purpose" and through which "participating agencies and individuals" seek "personal benefit". An internal note prepared by the office of the Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari has claimed MGNREGA has "earned quite a bad name" due to a...
More »