Delhi farmers on Sunday demanded that there should be a provision for a judicial review of cases in which government acquired land for public purposes but later sold them at the market price to private firms. Representatives from different villages of rural Delhi made this demand at a mahapanchayat held in Mahipalpur, one of the capital's oldest villages. The farmers had gathered to protest against the "archaic" Land Acquisition and...
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Centre plans to restrict interest rate of MFIs
The Centre is planning to impose a ceiling of 18 per cent on the interest rate charged by MFIs on loans to SHGs. This was indicated by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Chief Minister K. Rosaiah during a telephonic conversation recently. Disclosing this at a media conference here on Monday, Minister for Rural Development V. Vasanth Kumar and Minister for Agriculture N. Raghuveera Reddy said Mr. Mukherjee informed that the...
More »Panchayat polls: Unusual candidates try their luck by Maulshree Seth
Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh this time have seen unusual candidates jumping into the fray. There are teachers, shopkeepers, businessmen, relatives of politicians and even wives of BSP ministers. Some of them took leave from their normal work and some even sold their properties to take part in the polls. All claim they want to serve their village, block or district, but it is alleged that the lure of money pouring...
More »NAC recommends food security net for 75 p.c. of population
The National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by Sonia Gandhi, on Saturday recommended to the government to grant differential legal entitlement of foodgrains to nearly 800 million people through a reformed PDS network from the next financial year. The NAC also decided to set aside the BPL criteria and suggested two broad categories — priority and general — eligible for legal foodgrain entitlement under the proposed food security law. As per the recommendations,...
More »Implement food security scheme in two phases: NAC by Smita Gupta
The framework for food security, cleared by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council on Saturday, if implemented, will entail an additional expenditure of Rs.15,137 crore annually in the first phase. It is slated to kick off next year and will cost Rs. 23,231 crore annually when the entire population is covered by March 2014. Assuming an offtake of 85-90 per cent, the procurement will have to go up from 55 million...
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