The World Bank has approved $1 billion as credit and loan to support India's efforts to clean up the Ganga river. The sprawling river basin accounts for a fourth of the country's water resources and is home to more than 400 million people. The $1.556 billion National Ganga River Basin Project with $1 billion in financing from the World Bank group, including $199 million interest-free credit and $801 million low-interest loan, was...

-The Times of India   A day before UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's visit to the tribal belt of the state, chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Union minister C P Joshi reviewed the preparations at Banswara and Dungarpur. Sonia would be on a day's visit to Banswara to launch the Centre's flagship rural self-employment programme and lay the foundation stone of the long-awaited ambitious Dungarpur-Banswara-Ratlam rail line project in Dungarpur district. UPA...

To protect the interests of students seeking admission, the Centre is planning a law to check unfair practices in schools, ranging from donations and nexus with coaching centres. The proposed “The Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Schools and Intermediate Colleges Bill, 2011” aims at promoting transparency through mandatory self-disclosure in the prospectus and on the website, and provide adequate and accessible recourse for remedial action arising out of non-adherence to self-disclosed...

Eminent economists have shot off a letter to National Advisory Council (NAC) Chairman Sonia Gandhi to ensure that the proposed Food Security Bill is quite comprehensive and excludes only a few rich people. They also want Sonia to get the Bill legislated in such a way it is not based on the current public distribution system (PDS) for all times to come as direct subsidy transfer could also be an...

Concerned over the high maternal and infant mortality rate in the country, the Centre on Wednesday launched an ambitious programme to provide free services to pregnant women for deliveries and neo-natal care, if needed, up to a month after birth. The facility will be available to all women in government health Institutions in both rural and urban settings, and is expected to benefit over one crore women annually. Launching the Janani-Shishu Suraksha...