-The Hindu   Apart from ensuring the immediate appointment of 18,000 panchayat development officers and as many junior engineers, the Centre has drawn up a blueprint to provide jobs to three-lakh youth in the 60 left wing extremist affected districts in the country. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, in his consolidated note for the approval of the Empowered Group of Secretaries for the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) under Planning Commission member...

-The Times of India   Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday said Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) projects should be covered under Right to Information (RTI) Act, but government agencies involved in the projects should be asked to provide information under the law. Ahluwalia was in favour of full disclosure by public authorities of all relevant aspects of PPPs and performance under them. "PPP should be covered under RTI Act, but government agency...

The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India, Vinod Rai, on Sunday said that the audit mandate should be expanded to bring all public expenditure within its purview.   “There is a need for amending the audit mandate of the CAG to bring all public expenditure, including projects under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, within the purview of public audit,” Rai said. The statement comes days after Rai said that the credibility of the...

The rural development ministry has drawn out a plan to spend as much as Rs 2 lakh crore on two of its major schemes — Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and the Swarna Jayanti Gramin Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). The ministry, however, has left it to the government and the plan panel to decide the timeline over which these funds should be spent. The plan panel has indicated that it wants...

-The Times of India   Founder member of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) Aruna Roy on Saturday condemned the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the Right To Information Act was adversely affecting deliberations in the government and deterring honest officials from expressing their views on file. Roy was speaking at a seminar on 'Strengthening participatory democracy: Role of RTI' at the International Centre Goa, Dona Paula. "The Prime...