New-look programme to be rolled out in 2,000 most backward blocks within a year As part of a coordinated and aligned initiative, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, a re-energised Union Rural Development Ministry and the Planning Commission are working in tandem to make up for the time and money lost due to the underperformance in UPA-II on the government's flagship programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Even as...

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the draft of the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill that is to be tabled in Parliament during the upcoming monsoon session. The Prime Minister and the judiciary have been excluded from the ambit of the Lokpal Bill. According to this draft, the body will have a chairperson and eight members, including four judicial members. Information minister Ambika Soni said the chairperson would be a serving or retired Supreme Court...

Two of India’s biggest tea companies, Goodricke Group Ltd and Duncans Industries Ltd, said they may plunge into losses as workers, backed by key political parties, agitate for more pay. The labour unions reject this contention. The two companies are the main plantation owners in West Bengal’s Dooars region and do not have too many gardens elsewhere. Between them they produce about 34 million kg of tea a year; Goodricke is...

While Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is on Bharat Bhraman assuring Dalits, tribals and other unprivileged their share in growth, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has tasked himself with ensuring party scion’s mark in the government policy. Livelihood compensation for displaced landless on a par with landowners, share in the price appreciation of land with the project, acquisition in strict accordance with the tribal and forest dwellers acts are the...

27 party supporters killed since election results announced The Left Front would raise the issue of terror being unleashed upon its cadres and party workers in protests outside the State Assembly and Parliament and may also raise it during the all-party meeting called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, State Left Front Committee chairman Biman Bose said here on Thursday. Claiming that 27 supporters and party workers had been killed since...