The United Progressive Alliance government on Friday unveiled its second draft Bill addressing the burning issues of land acquisition as well as rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R). The National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, as recommended by the National Advisory Council, will make it mandatory that gram sabhas are consulted and the R&R package is executed before the acquired land is transferred. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh...

Directive comes after explosion of stoves, lamps using the kerosene The Assam government has directed all Deputy Commissioners and Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) to collect samples of blue-dyed kerosene (meant for the Public Distribution System) from sensitive areas and depots and send them to the Forensic Laboratory in Guwahati for investigation. The directive came in the wake of explosion of stoves and lamps using the PDS kerosene. A woman was killed and several others...

-PTI   Proper implementation of the Rights To Education Act can solve a host of problems faced by children in the country, NCPCR chairperson Santha Sinha said today."If the RTE is implemented in letter and spirit, many child related cases will be solved on their own," the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights chief said.She expressed concern over non-implementation of RTE in many states and blamed lack of coordination among departments...

The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) — at the initiative of which the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was rolled out in UPA-I — is taking a fresh look at how to strengthen it. The NAC wants the scheme to move from its “relief work mode” to one that would blend “natural resources and labour to build productive assets.” When the NAC meets here on Thursday, the Deep...

New-look programme to be rolled out in 2,000 most backward blocks within a year As part of a coordinated and aligned initiative, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, a re-energised Union Rural Development Ministry and the Planning Commission are working in tandem to make up for the time and money lost due to the underperformance in UPA-II on the government's flagship programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Even as...