-The Hindu Selected youth will work in LEW-affected districts Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh launched the Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellowship (PMRDF) programme here on Saturday. Under the programme, 156 youth selected for the fellowship would work in 78 Left-wing extremism (LWE)-affected districts covered in the integrated action plan (IAP) in nine States – Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand for two years. Speaking...

-The Business Standard The Union ministry of rural development proposes to introduce flexibility in implementation of its flagship programmes across the country. Minister Jairam Ramesh said, “In a phased manner, 50 per cent of the funds earmarked for rural development programmes will be transferred to state governments to implement the schemes as per their requirements, subject to broad guidelines. The rest of the funds will be spent as per the national guidelines...

-The Hindu   “Need for regulatory space for MFIs so they function without affecting SHGs” The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) would connect at least one woman from every poor household across the country with self-help groups (SHGs) in five years, Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said on Friday. “The objective of the programme is to ensure that in a five-year period one woman from every poor household becomes a member of...

-The Pioneer   Alleging large scale irregularities in the implementation of the Union Government’s flagship programme, Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the State, the opposition on Wednesday demanded that the Odisha Government should extend the ongoing CBI probe to all the remaining 26 districts. However, Panchayati Raj Minister Maheswar Mohanty rejected the allegation. Since the charges of large scale corruption as levelled by the Center for Environmental Studies and...

-The Telegraph The cash-starved panchayati raj ministry, which has been getting less than Rs 300 crore in the Union budget every year since its creation in 2004 to manage the 2.7 lakh panchayati raj institutions, is set to become richer by about Rs 1,000 crore this year. The Union ministry of rural development has decided to set aside one per cent of its allocation of Rs 99,000 crore to strengthen the panchayati...