-The Telegraph Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh today opposed sharing of certain “privileged” and “secret” matters under the right to information (RTI) law, echoing cabinet colleagues Salman Khurshid and M. Veerappa Moily. “Ministers write to the Prime Minister on a variety of issues. There has to be a concept of secrecy in government,” Ramesh said. According to Ramesh, communications leading to a cabinet decision or a policy decision of the government should be...
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MGNREGA funds underutilised in Jharkhand: Jairam
-PTI Dismissing charges of any sort of unfair treatment towards Jharkhand on developmental issues, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said Jharkhand spent only 1,558 crore on MGNREGA programmes. “There is a propaganda that Jharkhand is being discriminated. It is totally wrong. This year Jharkhand could spend only Rs. 1,558 crore on MGNREGA programmes, though it can spend Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000 crore under MGNREGA as it is a...
More »Montek Ahluwalia on his knees, amends poor remarks by Neeraj Thakur
India’s poor can take heart — for there’s justice even in this world, despite and in spite of the Planning Commission. Planning Commission deputy chairman, and expert on poverty, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, has gotten off his high horse. Ahluwalia said on Monday that a new committee would be set up to come up with a fresh method to identify India’s poor. Last week the Commission had filed an affidavit in the...
More »Planning Commission clarifies on India's poor by Sanjeeb Mukherjee
Makes case for Attorney General’s argument before SC. With the battle over identifying India’s poor moving to the Supreme Court, the Planning Commission has told Attorney General G Vahanvati that the controversial poverty line will not determine the Centre’s liability on subsidised food, but instead will be based on the eligibility limit in the proposed Food Security Act. “The Central government’s liability will be capped, but the cap will not be the...
More »The Poverty Line – yours, mine and ours by Patralekha Chatterjee
Discussing the ‘poverty line’ has become a bit like talking about sex or death. Everybody has a view on it. And no two persons have the same view. The planning commission, members of the national advisory council, the Rural Development minister, assorted chief ministers, social scientists, economists, the media, the bloggerati — all have made their points loud and clear. However, such is the topic that it continues to trigger verbal...
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