Preparing to fulfil one of the main demands of Anna Hazare, the UPA government is in the process of finalising the draft legislation for the Citizens Charter whereby every citizen will have the right to time-bound delivery of goods and services. Titled Citizens Charter for Committed Supply of Goods and Provision of Services by Public Authorities Bill, 2011, the draft legislation provides for multi-layered grievance redressal mechanism from panchayat to national...

-The Telegraph   Tribals will now be involved in value-addition and marketing of minor forest produce (MFP) such as honey and tamarind so they can get better prices. For the first time, a group of private companies has come forward to set up units that will carry out the value-addition and train tribal youths in the process as well as marketing the products. The firms will set up such units under the public-private-partnerships (ppp),...

-The Hindu   Apart from ensuring the immediate appointment of 18,000 panchayat development officers and as many junior engineers, the Centre has drawn up a blueprint to provide jobs to three-lakh youth in the 60 left wing extremist affected districts in the country. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, in his consolidated note for the approval of the Empowered Group of Secretaries for the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) under Planning Commission member...

-The Times of India   Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday said Public-Private-Partnership (ppp) projects should be covered under Right to Information (RTI) Act, but government agencies involved in the projects should be asked to provide information under the law. Ahluwalia was in favour of full disclosure by public authorities of all relevant aspects of ppps and performance under them. "ppp should be covered under RTI Act, but government agency...

The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India, Vinod Rai, on Sunday said that the audit mandate should be expanded to bring all public expenditure within its purview.   “There is a need for amending the audit mandate of the CAG to bring all public expenditure, including projects under Public-Private Partnership (ppp) mode, within the purview of public audit,” Rai said. The statement comes days after Rai said that the credibility of the...