Caught in the middle of a maelstrom of controversies, the Planning Commission has been accused of being disconnected from ground realities. Its 12th Plan hopes to fix that. A short while ago, the Congress general secretary and scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Rahul Gandhi, remarked that members of the Planning Commission are not in touch with the ground realities in India. He could have been somewhat influenced by his father, former...
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More than half of money for Rural Development remains unspent by Ruhi Tewari
Less than half the funds allocated to the Rural Development ministry in the current fiscal year for programmes, including the rural job guarantee plan, have been utilized. This is slower than last year, but the government contends tighter monitoring has prevented misuse of funds. The ministry has released Rs.30,846 crore to states in the first six months of the year, or 42% of the Rs.74,100 crore that has been allocated to...
More »Ramesh slams Modi for Gujarat's poor show in social development
-The Times of India Union Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh found an occasion for Modi-bashing at the release of UNDP's Human Development Index report, 2011, on Wednesday, saying there had been "retrogression" in social development indices in Narendra Modi-ruled Gujarat. He also blamed the US for being the biggest contributor to non-sustainability, and slammed India for being 'hell-bent' on following the American model of development. Speaking on the linkage between growth and development,...
More »Fresh sparring between Congress and NCP over Jairam's suggestion
-The Hindu Congress taunts its coalition partner, asks it to first take care of its existing portfolios Sparring over portfolios between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra has begun anew after Union Minister Jairam Ramesh's suggestion that the Rural Development Department implement the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). While the NCP is happy about the suggestion, the Congress — which holds the Water Conservation and Employment Guarantee...
More »Gender bias: Only Afghanistan fares worse than India in South Asia by Rukmini Shrinivasan
India's abysmal gender inequality statistics seem to have taken a turn for the worse. New data shows the country's Gender Inequality Index (GII) worsened between 2008 and 2011, and India now ranks 129 out of 146 countries on the GII, better only than Afghanistan in south Asia. On the Human Development Index (HDI), India ranks 134 out of 187 countries. When inequality is factored in, it experiences a 30% drop in...
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