-The Times of India It was UPA 1's winning mantra. But the Rs 33,000 crore a year rural job guarantee scheme may be floundering with the government admitting the flagship programme suffers from delayed payments, poor awareness, lack of durable assets, faulty job cards and muster rolls. The finance ministry has echoed some of the major criticisms of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act listing endemic "lack of awareness about...

The Bengal government is set to grant a never-before concession to developers of township projects, under which government companies will be allowed to hold and lease out land in excess of ceiling without prior permission. However, no activity other than real estate development is being allowed such flexibility despite industry complaining about difficulties involving land. “It seems the (amendment) proposal is highly lopsided. Does the government think only township development would be...

-The Economic Times   The national auditor is expected to stick to its controversial estimate of Rs 10.7 lakh crore as gains accrued to companies due to allocation of coal blocks on government discretion instead of auctioning them, an official in the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) office said.  This is set to further embarrass the UPA government that has been mired in a series of controversies. "The report is not yet final,...

Today is 20th March and it was this day in 2009 when the new form of Right to Information Act (RTI Act) was enacted in J&K by Omar Abdullah led Government soon after coming to power. Prior to 2009 we had an RTI law passed by PDP Congress coalition Government headed by Mufti Mohammad Syeed in 2004 (J&K RTI Act 2004). The 2004 version of RTI Act was much weaker...

-The Economic Times India has lifted the week old ban on cotton exports following intense political protests, but stiff riders have been put in place to discourage overseas Hoarding.  Exports will be allowed only of consignments that had been registered before the ban after scrutiny and revalidation to eliminate ``fictitious'' transactions while issue of fresh registration certificates has been put on hold. The group of ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee,...