The Union government’s plan to recapitalize 40 of the 82 regional rural banks (RRBs) is at risk as some of the state governments are either delaying or refusing to pay their share of money. Due to this, the government has only been able to recapitalize around 12 RRBs, with the stakeholders collectively infusing Rs. 300 crore. The CABinet had approved the Rs. 2,200 crore recapitalization plan of 40 RRBs in February,...

-PTI   Government has spent nearly Rs 42 crore on foreign visits by Union Ministers during the last one year. The information provided in an RTI reply shows that while CABinet Ministers spent Rs 37.16 crore on their foreign visits, their junior colleagues, Ministers of State, spent about Rs 4.76 crore on these visits bringing the total travel expenditure to Rs 41.82 crore for the year 2010-11. The CABinet Secretariat has given these...

Nearly five lakh college and university teachers are still waiting for arrears under the Sixth Pay Revision the human resource development ministry announced in December 2008 with retrospective effect from January 2006. Most states have implemented the revised package without paying the arrears as they are waiting for assistance from the ministry, which had told them it would bear 80 per cent of the additional cost for the first four years...

-The Economic Times   The Planning Commission has raised questions about the administrative structure of the Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) and called for the appointment of an independent financial advisor to monitor its finances and transactions, days after the finance ministry rejected the authority's Rs 15,000 crore funding proposal. "The UIDAI's present system represents a major departure from government procedures and removes all inbuilt checks and balances. We...

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the June 26, 2010, Orissa High Court decision to refrain from acting on a PIL drawing attention to the multi-crore coal mining scam in the state. The PIL, filed by Cuttack-based lawyer and activist Nishikanta Mishra, had demanded a probe by an independent agency, such as the CBI, into the scam involving high-ranking bureaucrats and politicians in Orissa. The scam, the petition...