-The Telegraph New Delhi: The PMO appears to be backing the forest ministry's decision to allow diversion of forestland for linear projects in certain areas without seeking the gram sabha's approval, despite objections raised by the tribal affairs ministry. Although the tribal affairs ministry has strongly protested against the forest ministry's notification of October 28, 2014, on the ground that it violated the Forests Rights Act (FRA), its effort to issue a...
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Forest land: Govt finalising dilution of tribal rights -Nitin Sethi
-Business Standard The tribal affairs ministry has drafted revised rules on tribal consent which are now being reviewed by the environment, forests and climate change ministry After approving an ordinance that does away with the need for consent of owners to acquire their land for infrastructure projects and other purposes, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is finalising the dilution of tribal rights over forest land, which will ease and hasten handing...
More »Job scheme budget-cut plan sparks alarm -Basant Kumar Mohanty
-The Telegraph The finance ministry has decided to shave Rs 3,000 crore, or about nine per cent, off the rural job guarantee scheme's budget allocation, government sources told The Telegraph. The move comes at a time the NDA government has been trying to assuage the fears of the Opposition and social activists that it plans to dilute the programme, introduced by the UPA government. This year's budget allocation for the programme was Rs...
More »Ending destitution and distress -Brinda Karat
-The Hindu ‘The government has taken steps to destroy MGNREGA, an act that gives purchasing power to the rural poor, following prejudicial contentions of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders' It's no secret that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. MGNREGA is perhaps the only law in the world which guarantees 100 days of wage employment a year to one member of a rural...
More »Rs. 37,880 crore to be pumped into nation’s road network -Sandeep Dikshit
-The Hindu Rs. 3,000 crore for the North-East alone; fillip to PM's rural scheme The Union Budget 2014 has given importance to fast-tracking highways and improving the road infrastructure to augment the nation's arterial network. "The sector had taken shape between 1998 and 2004 under NDA-I. The sector again needs huge amount of investment," said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while tabling the Budget. "I propose investment in National Highways Authority of India and...
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