Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have blamed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) for shortage of labour, which has led to increase in input cost of the products and eating into profit margins. "Now a days there is scarcity of labourers by 25 to 30 percent in SMEs. There is a high percentage of unskilled labour, which forms the core of employee recruitment in the local small and...
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Planning Commission's pat for State
The plan outlay for 2011-12 for Andhra Pradesh has been fixed at Rs.43,000 crore, which is 17 per cent more than last year's (2010-11) outlay of Rs.36,800 crore. This was decided at the meeting held by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and his team of officials here on Friday with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and his officers. During the deliberations, Dr. Ahluwalia commended the Andhra Pradesh government by stating that...
More »Centre to enact law to define drinking water standards by K Balchand
In India you have quality standards specifications for soft drinks, but none for potable water. The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, under the Ministry of Rural Development, is now seeking to correct the record, and, thankfully, the exercise will cover urban habitations too. The department has found the current legal environment for enforcing and regulating drinking water standards very weak in the country as they focus on issues related to...
More »Food Price Hike Worsens Poverty in Asia by Marwaan Macan-Markar
An annual meeting of Asian finance ministers and central bank governors in Hanoi is set to address the fate of 64 million people in the region on the brink of extreme poverty. They are the worst affected by soaring food prices, which have hit record highs in the first two months of this year. "The issue of food price inflation and food security will indeed be one of the key topics...
More »Watts in it for me? by Tusha Mittal
A LEAFY VILLAGE in Kerala, Pathanpara, never found access to India’s electricity grid. That is why for the last several years, this village has been generating its own electricity. Raju, a dhoti-clad cashew nut farmer, operates Pathanpara’s five kilowatt (KW) micro hydropower plant. He lives in the village and earns a salary of Rs 2,250, paid by the People’s Electricity Committee (PEC). The power generated is shared equally by the village,...
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