Days after he kicked up a row by stating that there are more temples than toilets in India, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday urged women not to get married into families that do not have toilets in their homes.
The Congress has conceded the plum Finance portfolio to its junior partner, resolving a thorny issue, after its president Rahul Gandhi intervened and spoke to Kumaraswamy.
Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India had recently stated that real estate projects were experiencing time and cost overruns due to shortage of labour because of schemes like Nrega.
Agatha Sangma, who had campaigned for her father P A Sangma in the Presidential polls, on Monday offered to quit as minister of state for rural development.
The National Level Monitors have pointed out grave irregularities in the NREGA scheme in Uttar Pradesh.
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday attacked the media for reporting that he had offered to quit the government and work for the party, calling it "juvenile" and refusing to answer any political questions.
With the recent strain with ally Trinamool Congress fresh in mind, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the Congress would respect "coalition dharma" in West Bengal, but would continue its 'legitimate' political activities without hurting any party.
Addressing diplomats, the RSS chief says his organisation doesn't support online trolling.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday made a strong pitch for roping in organisations like those run by Catholic Church to bring development in Maoist-hit areas but asked them to respect the 'Lakshman Rekha' and not engage in "religious mobilisation".
Buckling under B S Yeddyurappa's pressure, Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday decided to replace Sadananda Gowda with Jagdish Shettar as the chief minister of Karnataka marking the third change in the state in four years. The decision was taken at the BJP core group meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, sources said.
Ramesh had recently inaugurated DRDO's project at Odisha's Dhamra coast where they are installing 1000 bio-toilets to prevent open-defecation.
A senior Congress leader on Thursday alleged that a minister of the Left Front government in Tripura allegedly offered money to two gangrape rape victims to withdraw cases with the police, a charge that was denied.
In a move to apparently woo All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, Congress leader and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has offered an additional grant of over Rs 93 crore to her government, under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme. In a letter written to the CM, Ramesh mentions that the state government had utilised 60 per cent of the over Rs 273 crore allocated under the NRDWP.
United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday favoured an approach of welfare and development to defeat left-wing extremism and insurgency and bring back youth involved in it back to the democratic mainstream.
"I believe the biggest issues in front of us are malnutrition and toilets, these are the two faces of one coin... I have MNREGA, PMGSY, drinking water etc under me but I spend maximum time on toilet only," said Ramesh, who holds the portfolios of Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation, in what apparently was his take on the toilet controversy for which the plan panel has drawn flak.
The appointment of new expenditure secretary comes a month-and-a-half ahead of the Budget for 2020-21 to be presented on February 1.
In a show of strength, Bharatiya Janata Party strongman of Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday mobilised a sizeable number of legislators at a meeting convened by him apparently to exert pressure on the party central leadership to reinstate him as chief minister.
The ED slapped criminal charges of money laundering on the basis of the Mumbai Police FIR that was filed in August this year, which itself was filed on the basis of a similar complaint by the state economic offences wing.
In a 14-page letter to Mayawati, Ramesh cited the instances of alleged irregularities and corruption in implementation of the scheme in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Kushinagar, Mirzapur and Sant Kabir Nagar.
If more commodities which have seen a sharp rise in MSP are to be procured, such as pulses, oilseed and cereals, there could be a storage problem. Also, if state-owned Cotton Corporation of India joins in, this problem will aggravate.
New members of the Union Council of Ministers, including Tribal Affairs Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo, were introduced to both Houses of Parliament by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday. Dr Singh also introduced Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, who were recently inducted as Cabinet ministers, to members of both Houses.
Amid a raging controversy over land acquisition, the government on Friday unveiled a new draft Bill putting in place a transparent, legal framework aimed at giving adequate compensation to land owners and ensuring rehabilitation of those displaced.
Under Pressure for quite some time from his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, as well as the rank and file and leaders of the party, Rahul has apparently given the go ahead and agreed to join the Manmohan Singh government as a minister. It is expected that he would become a cabinet minister and may even take oath before the monsoon session of Parliament.
Accusing Jairam of making a mountain out of a molehill, she has sought to draw the prime minister's attention to the minister's bid to generalise some information.
The government will on Tuesday introduce the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in the Parliament to replace the Land Acquisition Ordinance.
Holding s strong brief for her Rural Development Minister Daddu Prasad, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday dismissed the accusation of rape against him as "false and baseless."
Modi government has earlier faced criticism from the Opposition on a number of occasions for renaming the schemes including PURA launched by the UPA in past.
The MHA order says the cancelled NGOs did not submit to the ministry details of amount of foreign contribution they received
The job guarantee scheme is set to provide food grain as part of wages.
Amid the controversy raging over the definition of poverty, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday claimed that they have resolved the issue.
Speaking to Business Standard about the Land Acquisition Bill recently cleared by the Cabinet, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said though the farmers' protests in Uttar Pradesh provided the impetus, the Bill was as much a political response to a poll problem as a legal response to a social issue.
The Union government on Tuesday gave formal clearance to upgrade 2,803 km of roads in Gujarat at a cost of Rs 992 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
Observing that the United Progressive Alliance government's Land Acquisition Bill is "a political response to a political problem", Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said his party leader Rahul Gandhi was the force behind the speedy introduction of the bill in Lok Sabha.
The much-talked about Land Acquisition Bill, which provides for enhanced compensation to land owners and other benefits, was Monday approved by the Union Cabinet notwithstanding reservations from some senior ministers on some aspects.
'The road ahead for the government's fiscal management will be full of many new challenges,' warns A K Bhattacharya.
Several people were feared trapped under the debris, police said, adding that the rescue operation was underway.
After announcing that the properties of corrupt officials will be confiscated and turned into primary schools, Bihar government plans to upload videos of complaints against officials seeking bribes and any genuine grievances of corruption on YouTube.
Government on Tuesday indicated its willingness to incorporate more changes into the land bill in order to address the concerns raised by opposition parties even as it has already agreed to make at least six amendments in its proposal.
As India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, the ninth budget under the Modi government, including an interim one, is widely expected to focus on boosting spending on job creation and rural development, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer and easing rules to attract foreign investments.
Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar on Monday urged the Bharatiya Janata Party central leadership to induct controversial Reddy brothers into Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda's ministry.
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