-The Times of India   The government is reaching out to civil society to avoid being caught on the wrong foot while identifying the poor. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has written to members of the Right to Food Campaign (RFC), addressing their concerns on the manner in which poor households are being identified in the socio-economic and caste census. As part of this effort, a committee headed by Abhijit Sen has been...

-The Economic Times   The government's bid to fast-track passage of the land acquisition bill seems to have run into trouble. A significant section of the standing committee of Parliament do not approve provisions on valuation and transfer of land. Chairperson of the standing committee vetting the bill, Sumitra Mahajan , has said that the bill cannot be cleared in haste and more consultations would be needed. The bill is unlikely to...

A revamped version of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the government's flagship social sector programme, will be unveiled on November 14. The makeover, crafted by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh and Planning Commission member Mihir Shah, promises to iron out administrative glitches that have dogged the six-year-old scheme, credited for boosting incomes but panned for stoking inflation. "We are ready with version 2 of MGNREGA. It will basically strengthen the...

-The Indian Express   Noting that funds released from the Centre do not always reach Naxal-hit areas, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the government has decided to redraw the fund-distribution pattern. “So far Central funds are released for Naxal-affected districts, from XII Plan they will be given to Naxal-affected blocks,” he said. At present, Chhattisgarh has 10 Naxal-hit districts. Many more areas have significant Naxal presence but are not categorized so....

Tamil Nadu has stopped using banks to pay workers employed under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), turning the clock back on the programme that was expected to eliminate layers of middlemen in reaching money to the poor. Rural development ministry officials at the Centre confirmed the development, but termed it “a temporary setback”. However, Tamil Nadu is not alone. Andhra Pradesh too has asked some of its poorest...