-The Business Standard Use central funds to push agri-reform in states The agriculture ministry’s reported decision to tie the state-wise allocation of funds from the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP) to the states’ progress on agri-marketing reforms seems likely to benefit both farmers and consumers. Yet the gains from releasing central assistance only conditionally could be substantially augmented. If the Centre is serious about reform, it should expand this conditionality to other...

After Haryana ban, illegal mining shifts to Sikar’s hills Who’s The Quarry? More than 400 active leases in the Sikar belt 1,200 trucks move out of Rajasthan Aravallis daily In Dabla alone, 50 ha of land mined Area has five small rivers, three clogged with sludge. *** The ceiling of her house has some long cracks, the roof has become unstable, the floor in some parts has caved in. When Reshmi built her house in the Dabla...

Is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) a poverty buster? Or is it a job destroyer? The answer seems to be both, though the scheme of late, has been bedevilled by corruption and many states have lost their enthusiasm for it, forcing the rural development ministry to revamp the scheme last week (read here about the changes). While the scheme has been attacked for many reasons – bloating rural...

-The Times of India Government agencies fear that terror funds are flowing into the real estate sector, apart from a substantial part of the black Money generated within the country finding its way into the housing industry. An assessment prepared by revenue intelligence agencies and reviewed by the finance minister recently reveals that the highest component of undisclosed Money detected by the income tax department was from the real estate sector. Officials suspect...

-PTI  Back to targeting Congress, Anna Hazare and his close aide Arvind Kejriwal today asked the party to come out clean on its election funding and the Money it spent on "helicopters and rallies".  Asking Congress to make public its expenses on its website, Kejriwal said senior party leader Digvijay Singh had repeatedly asked Team Anna to make public the Money they collected and then spent on the Lokpal protest.  "We gave all...