Buoyed by a fresh Rs 400-crore fillip to transform the east into the country’s next food bowl, the state has set its eyes on a chunk of Rs 60 crore to give shape to what is being termed as the second green revolution. Speaking to The Telegraph, state agriculture secretary A.K. Singh said the department was drafting a detailed proposal that would be submitted to a central team, which will visit...
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CAG gets a say in NREGS social audit by Subodh Ghildiyal
The Centre will give CAG a place in social audit of rural job scheme and direct the states to set up directorates to train auditors from civil society. A nominee of CAG would be present in social audits that gram sabhas would conduct twice a year. CAG would also do an annual audit as part of its mandate. Coupled with the rigour of CAG's accounting, the exercise would also bring in...
More »Panchayats told to hold regular meetings on rural jobs scheme by Ruhi Tewari
The government wants to make its rural jobs guarantee programme more open to scrutiny and empower its beneficiaries by getting panchayats (village councils) to periodically disclose information about the scheme’s functioning in that area. To this end, the ministry of rural development has issued an advisory to village panchayats, making it mandatory for them to convene regular gram sabhas (village general bodies). The initiative is also aimed at making the scheme...
More »Agriculture reform key to India Budget by James Lamont
Pranab Mukherjee, India’s finance minister, put the rural economy at the heart of a national Budget on Monday, saying ridding the farm sector of crippling supply bottlenecks would be his “focus” in the coming fiscal year.A market-neutral Budget supporting agriculture, welfare schemes and the extension of banking services to more people was designed to dispel any sense that the Congress party-led government was in drift after a series of high...
More »Windfall for farmers continues, loan disbursal target raised to Rs 4,75,000 crore
Farmers can continue to reap a financial harvest that first came as a windfall loan waiver of Rs 60,000 crore in 2008. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee raised the target for loan disbursal to the farmers from the present Rs 3,75,000 crore to Rs 4,75,000 crore in 2011-12, nearly a 27% jump.Mukherjee has raised the target consistently in 2010-11, the loan target was raised by over 15% at Rs 3.75 lakh...
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