The Planning Commission projected the Centre's fiscal deficit to come down to three per cent of the gross domestic product.
Rains were 26 per cent above normal across the country.
The demand for cash transfers was highest in Bihar at 54 per cent, followed by 34 per cent in Uttar Pradesh and 22 per cent in Jharkhand, where the access to PDS foodgrain was found limited.
Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has said states would not be allowed to ignore the findings of the social audits notified recently by his ministry on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
As a Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh since 2004, he has been putting all his Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) money in the SHG programmme in the state each year, and continues to do so.
As the country grapples with a string of corruption issues, the approach paper to the 12th Five-Year Plan, which is in final stages of preparation by the Planning Commission, will focus prominently on governance issues.
The wheat procurement season has ended in most big foodgrain-growing states with an all-time high purchase of almost 28 million tonnes (mt), creating a problem of storing such huge stocks.
Officials said the Centre would have to bear an additional subsidy burden of Rs 4,161 crore this financial year, if this proposal was implemented.
Officials from the food ministry said if the situation continued, the country could face a problem of plenty, as grain stocks this year are at a high level of 65 million tonnes (mt), while the total storage space available with the Food Corporation of India and state agencies, both covered and uncovered, is estimated at 63 mt as on June 1.
A big change in the new IIP data, taking 2004-05 as the base year against 1993-94 in the old series, is its classification of items and the weights assigned to these.
New census will include questions about religion and castes.
The data, to be compiled by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, will bring out the proportion of population actively contributing to production of goods and services, also known as the labour force participation ratio, every quarter.
Economy grew by 8.6 per cent in 2010-11.
The reservations of Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on the projected additional electricity generation capacity of 100,000 Mw during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) period has failed to cut much ice with the Planning Commission.
The PPP framework for these projects, like building hospitals and schools, will be different from the existing regime for infrastructure.
Besides, as urbanisation spreads, the country will consume more wheat, pulses and less rice and coarse cereals in the coming years.
Former managing director of McKinsey & Co, Rajat Gupta, has stepped down as chairperson of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). Gupta's resignation comes days before the PHFI executive was to discuss his exit.
The working group on food and public distribution constituted under the chairmanship of Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is likely to recommend using the numbers effectively for streamlining PDS.
An expert committee headed by Planning Commission member Narendra Jadhav is giving finishing touches to the proposals.
Pilots working for Air India are divided on the call of a nationwide strike from March 9 by the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), part of the erstwhile Indian Airlines, which has 680 members.
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