Representatives of around 20 civil society organizations and NGOs met the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley as part of pre-budget consultation on social sector on 12 January, 2016. Immediately after the pre-budget consultation, a press conference was held by some of these organizations to convey the media persons what demands/ suggestions were made. Subrat Das, Executive Director of Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA, http://www.cbgaindia.org/) informed us that during...
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Give highest priority to rural job guarantee scheme in Budget, eminent citizens tell Jaitley
-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: Ahead of the Budget, eminent citizens across the country have written an open letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley requesting him to accord “highest priority” to the rural job guarantee scheme, MGNREGA, and allocate additional ₹5,000 crore to the Ministry of Rural Development. “Subsequent Budget estimations and allocations to the programme must be brought in line with inflation; be measured and maintained as a percentage of...
More »Leaving no poor person behind -Jean Dreze
-The Hindu The National Food Security Act is finally making headway in the poorest States. Amplified by reforms in the Public Distribution System, a modicum of nutritional support and economic security to all vulnerable households is now a real possibility. Dhobargram is a small Santhal village in Bankura district of West Bengal, with 100 households or so. Most of them are poor, or even very poor, by any plausible standard. There are...
More »'Release Rs 5,000 crore for MGNREGA to deal with agrarian crisis'
-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Centre's budget preparatory exercise, over 100 civil society members today appealed to Union Minister Arun Jaitley to "immediately" release additional Rs 5,000 crore for MGNREGA in view of agrarian "crisis" in the country. "Given the immediate crisis and requirement of the remaining three months of the FY 2015-16, we request the additional Rs 5,000 crore to be made available to the Union Rural Development...
More »Why India has a ‘low’ crime rate -Deeptiman Tiwary
-The Indian Express While Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands display high numbers of criminal activity, India stands with Yemen and Lebanon in the lower zone. Last month, when women and child Development minister Maneka Gandhi was pushing through amendments to Juvenile Justice Act in Parliament that would lower the age of culpability as an adult from 18 to 16, she cited a rising number of crimes by juveniles. In the year...
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