-The Indian Express A standoff between the ministries of tribal affairs and environment and forests over the issue of clearances has stalled three key projects, prompting Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, to intervene and question the delay. The projects, which are being tracked by the project monitoring group (PMG) of the cabinet committee on investment, are in three different parts of the country: the 2×500 MW project of...

Quite opposite to the top-down model of budgeting, the newly elected Aam Aadmi Party-led Government in Delhi has decided to go for a 'citizen-centric' budget planning at 'mohalla'-level for the fiscal year 2015-16. Drawing lessons from the success stories of participatory budgeting conducted at municipal-level in cities like Porto Alegre (Brazil), the AAP-led Delhi Government has decided to launch this form of decentralized budgeting on a pilot basis in a...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: They attracted the attention of officials from across the world and now the corporation's vigilance department is turning a hawk eye on Amma canteens. A year after the subsidized canteens were launched, the vigilance department has found discrepancies in their functioning and the complaints range from poor accounting and stock-keeping to vegetables being sold in the open market. The corporation's vigilance officers conducted surprise checks last week...

-The Hindu   ‘An offshoot of trickle-down urbanisation, census towns like Hatia and Hinjewadi can be engines of change for rural areas' Hatia, Ranchi: At the southern edge of Ranchi city lies Hatia, and not all of its residents are sure if theirs is a village or part of Ranchi city's sprawl into its surrounding rural areas. "It's still a village. The panchayat has the land records," says Santosh Majhi, standing by the side...

-The Hindu The Provisions of the Bill are aimed at creating "conducive" atmosphere for street vendors, and designated spaces for them to carry out their business. A Bill that provides for protection of livelihoods rights, social security of street vendors and for regulation of urban street vending in the country--the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2014--was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Moving the Bill for...