-IANS Sitting and former MPs from various parties owe a staggering Rs.9 crore to state-run telecom provider MTNL, over and above the free calls they are allowed, a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query revealed Tuesday. The reply lists 399 MPs who alone owe Rs.7.10 crore dues to MTNL, followed by Rs.1.97 crore owed by six sitting members. The list for former MPs defaulting upon their bills is led by Rajya...
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Jairam Ramesh seeks CAG’s help to plug job scheme loopholes
-The Times of India Rural development ministerJairam Ramesh has written to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai seeking focused attention to the government's Rs 40,000-crore expenditure on MGNREGS, the flagship rural employment guarantee scheme, and to evaluate funds utilization by states. The minister has highlighted some deviations made by some states in his communication to the CAG, while requesting the auditor to make suggestions that could help the government "establish...
More »Reviving Universal PDS: A Step Towards Food Security by Suranjita Ray
An unprecedented economic growth during the last decade has also seen increasing malnutrition, hunger and starvation amongst certain sections of society. India ranks 66 in the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) World Hunger Index of 88 countries (Inter-national Food Policy Research Institute). More than 200 million people in this country are denied the right to food. One-third of all underweight children (57 million) in the world due to lack of...
More »‘Rural wages scheme, Food Security Bill can stoke inflation’
-The Indian Express Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao on Tuesday cautioned that policies — the significant increase in rural wages triggered by the MGNREGS and inflationary implications of the proposed Food Security Bill — aimed at inclusive growth can stoke inflationary pressures at any rate in the short-term. “The need for making growth inclusive is incontestable, but it is important to recognise that policies aimed at inclusion can stoke inflationary...
More »What’s Wrong and Right with Microfinance by David Hulme and Thankom Arun
Recent events in south Asia have led to an unexpected reversal in the narrative of microfinance, long presented as a development success. Despite charges of poor treatment of clients, exaggeration of the impact on the poorest as well as the risks of credit bubbles, the sector can play a non-negligible role in reaching financial services to low-income households. In regulating the sector, there is need for caution in setting interest...
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