The National Bank for Agriculture and rural development (Nabard) set up to finance agriculture and rural development, has been giving evasive replies to specific questions raised by the Union finance ministry and by Parliament on the nature of recommendations made by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to restructure the bank. Some MPs believe that the restructuring violates the role mandated for Nabard by Parliament. DNA earlier reported that the restructuring/repositioning of Nabard...

-PTI Union rural development Minister Jairam Ramesh today said about Rs 1 "I am going to announce in Parliament on large scale expansion in the work schedule of MGNREGA by May 8. (Planning Commission member) Mihir Shah-headed expert committee recommendations are accepted (in this regard)," Ramesh said at a press conference here. "One of the important additions is Souchalaya (toilet system), in which Rs 1,200 crore could be allotted, he said and added...

Action plan proposed to improve rural connectivity for fighting extremism rural development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said development and security were integral to each other, like strands in a single fabric. He was speaking in the context of the proposed Sarju Area Development Action Plan (SADAP), which is similar to the Saranda Action Plan (SAP) that was started six months ago in the Chibasa district of Jharkhand to combat the extremist...

The implementation of Right to Education Act may have got a shot in the arm with the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the 25% reservation in unaided private schools for children from lower income group families but inAndhra Pradesh (and possibly other states in the country), the Act might soon figure among the many well-intentioned government schemes that do not impact, leave alone benefit, its target group. At best, the...

-The Hindu If only laws could eliminate all that they prohibit, India would have been free of the scourge of manual scavenging decades ago. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Bill, which is to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament, is another attempt to prevent employment of people in the cleaning, handling or carrying of human excreta. Despite the renewed stress on rehabilitation in the...