The Finance Ministry has turned down a proposal for doubling the number of employment days guaranteed to below poverty line people under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The Rural Development Ministry had proposed doubling the minimum days for employment from 100 to 200 days and also called for linking the wage rate to the annual inflation rate. “The Ministry had written to us asking for funds to...
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Centre plans doorstep banking in Red Corridor by Saubhadra Chatterji
The finance ministry is planning to change the face of banking in the Red corridors at the tribal heartlands of India. The move is part of the government decision to redraw its law and order management and development plans in view of the growing Naxalite menace threatening the Indian state. As the banks, like any other government institutions bear the brunt of Naxalite terror, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is mooting the...
More »Law to ensure cheap grain for poor
The government will enact a legislation to ensure subsidised wheat and rice to the poor, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said at a seminar titled Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern States. “We are committed to enacting a legislation on food security (called National Food Security Act). But to make it successful, we need to produce more, procure more and strengthen the delivery mechanism for making foodgrain accessible to the poor at affordable...
More »Govt slashes UIDAI budget by over 50 per cent
Troubles continue for the government's dream project Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Already battling a staff crunch, its request for Rs 7,000 crore to roll out 60 crore UID numbers in the first phase has been shot down by the Empowered Finance Committee (EFC). "The EFC is understood to have refused to entertain the request of the UIDAI for Rs 7,000 crore to execute the first phase of the ambitious...
More »Govt pushes China model for 'Eastern Green Revolution'
The government has come forward with a proposal to replicate the Chinese Green Revolution model in the eastern states and promote hybrid rice on a mission mode in the region. Taking a leaf from success stories in China, the Ministry has also proposed a task force on promotion of hybrid rice and envisioned pushing for private sector participation. Although a section of environmental activists in Kolkata have already raised their voice...
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