-The Hindu In a breather to Greenpeace India Society, the Madras High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay on a Home Ministry order, which cancelled the Foreign Contributions (Regulations) Act, 2010 registration given to the international NGO. When the plea filed by Greenpeace came up for hearing on Wednesday, which challenged the Home Ministry order on September 2, Justice M.M. Sundresh granted an interim stay on the order and ordered for...

-The Indian Express Under the plan, the state governments will identify the clusters in accordance with the framework for implementation prepared by the Ministry of Rural Development. In a bid to transform rural areas to economically, socially and physically sustainable spaces, the Cabinet Wednesday approved the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) with an outlay of Rs 5,142.08 crore to set up 300 rural clusters across the country by 2019-20. “The mission...

-The Hindu The Union Cabinet gave ex post facto approval on Wednesday to provide an additional 50 days of work to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme beneficiaries during the current financial year wherever drought or natural calamities have been notified. The scheme guarantees 100 days of work. The decision will enable the States to provide additional wage employment to the rural poor in drought-affected areas, the release said. “The poorest...

-The Hindu Business Line Even as village after village in India is ‘electrified’, many households within them, equal to the US population, are not The Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech reaffirmed the goal of “power for all” and said 18,500 villages which still have no electricity would be electrified within the next 1,000 days. The goal of complete electrification was first stated by the Rajadhyaksha committee on power in 1978...

-The Hindu While the Rapid Survey on Children points to substantial progress in fields that have become a focus of serious action, such as safe delivery, it also highlights the penalties of inaction in other fields The recent release of summary findings from the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC) has generated remarkably little interest in the mainstream media. The main focus of attention so far has been the indifferent performance of Gujarat...