The Human Resource Development Ministry has refuted allegations of misuse of grants provided by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), as reported in the media. In a statement issued here, the Ministry said expenditure under the SSA was incurred as per well-defined norms articulated in the SSA Framework of Implementation and the Manual of Financial Management and Procurement. Up to 6 per cent of...

The government on Tuesday expressed shock over reports of embezzlement of UK grants in Sarva Siksha Abhiyan scheme and said that the flagship programme follows "rigorous and robust monitoring system". A day after the British government launched an inquiry into the alleged misuse of its funds under SSA, Department of School Education and Literacy under HRD Ministry here said it will write to the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of External...

Beneficiaries of schemes under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will now get their wages without haing to go to the bank or post office and without seeking help from middlemen to complete the formalities. To ensure this, the state rural development department has sign an agreement with Union Bank which will provide biometric cards to the MGNREGA beneficiaries. The first lot of 5,000 biometric cards will be...

The India growth story is enviable. Despite plaguing problems, India has emerged stronger and resilient to the global crisis so far. India is expected to be the world's fastest growing economy by 2018, according to Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research arm of the Economist magazine. India, the second largest growing economy will overtake China as the fastest growing major economy with an average of eight per cent in the...

Many governments in the developing world lack the will to eradicate child labour, says the third ILO global report on the deplorable practice. The effects of the present global economic and financial crisis, rather than its causes, have been the central preoccupation of organisations such as the International Labour Organisation in recent times. The ILO, in particular, has focussed on the impact of the crisis on populations within the least...