-Daily News Asia's rapid growth is leaving millions behind, causing a widening gap between rich and poor that threatens to undermine the region's stability, according to a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). "Another 240 million people could have been lifted out of poverty over the past 20 years if inequality had remained stable instead of increasing as it has since the 1990s," said ADB's Chief Economist Changyong Rhee. The Asian...

-Tribune News Service Notwithstanding the marginal decline in spendings under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) over the past two years, Himachal has the best performance indicators, putting it in the league of top-performing states. The total expenditure under the scheme came down from Rs 556.55 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 516.34 crore in 2010-11 and further fell to Rs 509.43 crore in the last financial year. However, the number...

Difficult times call for difficult measures. Pushed into a corner by an unsustainable fiscal deficit and various sectors and programs (including the proposed food security legislation) screaming for a greater share of the budget pie, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in India has been forced to do what it might not have otherwise—reduce its marquee job guarantee scheme’s allocation in a big way for the first time.  In one...

The government is thinking of letting the states cherry pick the central schemes for rural welfare, a step back from centralized decision-making that it hopes could help quell the accusations that Centre was weakening the federal structure. The idea behind the 'flexifund route' is to allow states the freedom to decide Rural Development schemes they want to implement and how much of allocation should each get. It would mark a departure...

Central bank sold its majority stake in Oct 2010; change will ensure entire equity  is held by the govt The government will amend a law governing the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) to allow the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to sell its 1% stake in the development lender. The central bank sold its majority stake in the lender to the government in October 2010. The government owns 99%...