This is the second such initiative for urban reforms after the successful implementation of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission launched in FY06.
Proposes that the percentage of land to be acquired by state agencies should be decided by their governments.
While the Centre and several state governments are facing a tough time over land acquisition issues back home, Ethiopia on Wednesday offered "virgin fertile" land to Indian companies for agricultural developments.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh unveiled a new India aid package for African nations on Tuesday, of $6 billion, and a comprehensive range of initiatives covering various social and economic sectors.
As part of an overall strategy of improving food management to reduce inflationary pressure, the food ministry has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to incentivise organised retail trade in the farm sector.
Top sources in the government told Business Standard the Congress managers wanted the rise in prices to be a collective decision of the United Progressive Alliance and also make sure allies could not wriggle out of the exercise to take harsh economic decisions.
The draft report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament is understood to have asked the UPA government to quantify the loss to the exchequer from the 2G scam and recover it from companies that benefited from this.
According to the current plan in Congress party quarters to end the stand-off on a parliamentary probe into the telecom scam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to make a statement in Parliament on Tuesday, a day after it convenes, asking the Speaker to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the subject.By the rules, Speaker Meira Kumar will authorise this. A JPC generally has two-thirds of its members from the Lok Sabha and the rest from the Rajya Sabha.
In a norm reversal, Nitish's village gets transformed, his house remains as it was.
Both the rightist Congress and the Leftists, after a long time, are trying to measure their luck depending on their own strength.
Former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld once had to catch Mukherjee in Kirnahar during the Puja.
The finance ministry is arriving at a consensus to reject a proposal mooted in government to permit foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retailing.
The central leadership of the CPI(M) on Monday admitted to a series of mistakes, including the decision to allow the first UPA government to go to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2007.
If Karat's six-page long speech is an indication, he spent eight paragraphs attacking the Congress, while just one paragraph went into slamming the BJP for its communal politics.
Karat admits that creation of the Third Front was a wrong move.
The state government is just a puppet of New Delhi, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the hardline leader of the Hurriyat Conference (G), tells Saubhadra Chatterji.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will not attend the full session of the Communist Party of India(M) extended central committee meeting in Vijayawada. Bhattacharjee's move comes days after Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan's decision to stay away from the meet.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has rejected a proposal by Communications Minister A Raja for refund of the Rs 29,598 crore paid by state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited for third generation (3G) and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum.
The finance ministry is planning to change the face of banking in the Red corridors at the tribal heartlands of India. The move is part of the government decision to redraw its law and order management and development plans in view of the growing Naxalite menace threatening India.