-The Hindu   A group of NGOs conducted a survey in 11 districts In the wake of the Department of Women and Child Development acknowledging that there are 72,000 severely malnourished children in the State, a group of NGOs conducted a survey of malnourished children in 11 districts. According to the study, the worst-affected are children from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families where parents worked on daily wages. The study, which aimed at studying...

Rebutting union rural development minister's allegation of corruption in implementation of MNREGA in UP, chief minister Mayawati on Saturday said that the accusations are politically motivated and misleading. As per the evaluation of MNERAGA cell of the union government, UP has been among the best performing states in last four but all of sudden the corruption charges have cropped up, she said, which shows that there is more politics than genuine...

-PTI   Intensifying his attack on Mayawati, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has written a fresh letter accusing her of protecting those involved in alleged irregularities in implementation of MNREGA in some districts while providing names of corrupt officials. Insisting on a CBI probe, Ramesh, in a 14-page letter to Mayawati, cited instances of alleged irregularities and corruption in the implementation of the scheme in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Kushinagar, Mirzapur and Sant...

What kept Prime Minister Manmohan Singh busy after securing minister A Raja’s resignation on the night of November 14 last year?   He was writing a reply to National Advisory Council chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s letter on the practice of manual scavenging. On November 15, he wrote to her that he was asking the Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment to “examine how to strengthen” implementation of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and...

CNN-IBN   Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati citing a huge scam in MNREGA scheme in the state. Jairam has cited seven districts spread across UP where central funds have been allegedly misused by the state. These districts are Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Sant Kabir Nagar and Mirzapur.   The letter talks about the budget for MNREGA scheme in UP to be above Rs 5000 crore. Jairam has written...