-The Times of India CHENNAI: Chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday declared that all districts of Tamil Nadu, except Chennai, were drought-hit. After a disastrous monsoon and with Karnataka proving intractable on release of Cauvery water, experts said the CM's statement appeared calculated to buttress the state's case in court for immediate relief. But Jayalalithaa injected the declaration with a sense of urgency, saying Finance minister O Paneerselvam would lead a high-level team...
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Rs. 2,143-crore relief for crisis-ridden farmers-T Ramakrishnan
-The Hindu All districts, except Chennai, declared drought-hit; work days under MGNREGS increased to 150 Chennai: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced in the Assembly on Friday that all districts in the State other than Chennai would be declared drought-hit and unveiled a host of relief measures that would cost about Rs. 2,143.60 crore, focussing on the crisis-ridden Cauvery delta. Ms. Jayalalithaa said the number of days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural...
More »‘Without growth... we will be constrained in our ability to defend national security’ -P Chidambaram
-The Indian Express Until recently, we took a compartmentalised view of national security. Each threat to national security was neatly fitted into one compartment. The first, of course, was a war with Pakistan. That was fitted into a compartment and was meant to be deterred, or defended, through the might of our armed forces. A war with China was, and remains, unthinkable, and therefore that threat was fitted into another compartment...
More »Bank officials, microFinance institutions cornered benefits of farm loan waiver: CAG report -Pradeep Thakur
-The Times of India The UPA-1's Rs 52,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme is turning out to be a big financial scandal. Out of 1 lakh farm loan waiver accounts audited in 700 bank branches across the country — involving disbursement of Rs 500 crore — about 30% of the waiver amount was allegedly found to have been siphoned off by a nexus of bank managers and microFinance institutions (MFIs). A comptroller...
More »Army’s stand makes it hard to amend AFSPA: Chidambaram-Sandeep Joshi
-The Hindu Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday stressed the need for making the controversial Armed Forces (Special Power) Act (AFSPA) a more “humanitarian” law, but asserted that the Union government could not move forward as there was “no consensus” between the Army and the government on the issue. “The Army has taken a strong stand against any dilution of the AFSPA… We can’t move forward because there is no consensus. “The...
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