The Centre is planning to increase the spending on social activities with a rise in government revenue, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here today. "With rise in government revenues we will increase it further," he said at the inauguration of a Union Bank branch in the Murshidabad district. The government is keeping aside a major portion of the budget for social activities and this share is going up from Rs 2.43 lakh...
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Plan to link NREGA wages to inflation hits CP Joshi wall by Priyadarshi Siddhanta
Rural Development Minister CP Joshi has refused to move on a proposal by the Planning Commission to link wages under the national job guarantee scheme to the consumer price index. In fact, the Plan panel’s proposal was echoed by the National Advisory Council chaired by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.In a presentation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently, the Planning Commission made a strong case for aligning the wage levels to...
More »In Orissa’s poorest villages, questions over money spent on ‘jobs never given’ by Debabrata Mohanty
Last fortnight, the Supreme Court agreed allegations of misappropriation of NREGS funds in Orissa are not without basis. Debabrata Mohanty tracks the scheme and the controversy it is in: FACT HUNT In May-June 2007, the Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) surveyed how an MGNREGS programme was being carried out in the 100 poorest villages of Orissa’s “hunger bowl” of KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) districts, as well as the districts of Nuapada, Nabarangpur...
More »CS enquires timely payment of wages to beneficiaries under MNREGA
In a sudden surprise inspection, Chief Secretary Avani Vaish stopped his cavalcade at Gram Panchayat Podki of Pushprajgarh Janpad Panchayat and enquired beneficiaries about payment of wages under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) whether they are being paid on time or not. The Chief Secretary, on the way to take a meeting of administrative officials at Amarkantak in Anuppur district after alighting from helicopter, suddenly jammed wheels of...
More »Dharmapuri PEW helps bootleggers turn a new leaf by R Arivanantham
Two hundred families from 40 ‘Black Spot' villages, that were notorious for brewing hooch and selling in Dharmapuri District have been rehabilitated by the Prohibition and Enforcement Wing (PEW), thanks to the efforts of Additional Superintendent of Police P. Saravanan. R. Sudhakar, District Superintendent of Police told The Hindu that the district police identified these villages and conducted social awareness campaigns at regular intervals. As part of this initiative, the PEW wing...
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