-Frontline Social development indicators in Gujarat are poor, proving that development in the State is lopsided On a hot day last November near Rajkot, Ramjibhai Patel, an octogenarian farmer, pointed to the middle distance and said, “See that lake?” There was indeed a shimmer in the dry landscape indicating water, but after a relatively poor monsoon, it seemed improbable. Chuckling, he said, “Yes, I see doubt on your face and you are...

-The Indian Express Twelve years after launching its flagship rural roads scheme, the Ministry of Rural Development is set to introduce the second version of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, which will focus on refurbishing the existing rural roads, by moving a proposal in the Cabinet on Thursday. PMGSY, a Centrally sponsored scheme launched in 2000, seeks to provide all-weather road connectivity to rural areas for habitations with a population of...

-The Times of India BHUBANESWAR: The Opposition on Wednesday accused the state government of perpetrating irregularities in the centrally-sponsored rural job guarantee scheme leading to embezzlement of an alleged 50% of the money earmarked for expenditure. Panchayati Raj minister Kalpataru Das rejected the allegations, saying Odisha was faring better than most states in implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme launched in 2005. He said so far 100.33 lakh families...

-Live Mint Preventing entry of Dalits, tribespeople to places of worship should be made a punishable offence, says NAC Preventing Dalits and tribespeople from entering places of worship will be made a punishable offence under legal changes proposed by the National Advisory Council (NAC), which sets the social policy for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Obstructing members of such groups from using community resources will also be made an offence under...

-The Business Standard Varad Pande, officer on special duty, ministry of rural development, says the Aadhaar identification project aims to cover at least half of country’s population by next year. He talks about where it has reached, in an interview with Samie Modak & Abhineet Kumar. Edited excerpts: * What is the Aadhaar project’s status? The project started about two years earlier and now has a little more than 270 million enrolled, roughly...