The Centre today announced doubling of funds allocation under a special plan for Bihar to Rs 2,000 crore for the current fiscal, a move that should please Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has been seeking greater central assistance. Effectively, the increase in central allocation would mean that the NDA-ruled state can spend extra Rs 1,000 crore on power, roads and irrigation within the three months ending March 31, 2011. The decision to...

Union minister for rural development CP Joshi on Monday turned the table on the Nitish Kumar led-NDA government, saying that the state government had failed to bring into play good governance in the implementation of centrally-sponsored schemes, which resulted in the poor performance of the present dispensation. Joshi, who on Sunday had first hand experience of the implementation of village road construction under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act...

The Centre has decided to go ahead with the controversial proposal of constructing Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendras at the panchayat level at a cost of Rs.10 lakh each from funds meant for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mgnregs). Notwithstanding the opposition against the use of funds meant to provide 100 days of manual employment to the unemployed in rural areas, the Ministry of Rural Development has decided to...

**page** [inside]KEY TRENDS of the Union Budget 2023-24[/inside] Budget 2023-24 is the last full budget before the general election scheduled for 2024. An analysis of the budget allocations suggests that the union government has squeezed expenditure, particularly on food subsidy and the NREGA budget, while boosting Capital expenditure and giving the middle class tax benefits. Social sector activists working on Right to Food, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) came out with...