In the continuing war of words between Congress and Trinamool Congress, the two ruling allies in West Bengal, Union Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday defended his comment that Congress had not taken a VRS from the state and said it would continue to speak its mind on the state's affairs.
Experts recommend awaiting the findings of the 2021 Census, which is yet to be conducted, before introducing population control policies.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday said 'vested interests' were responsible for the recent killings of Sarpanches and Panches even as it said it is duty-bound to empower Panchayats in the state and has taken steps in this regard.
The ruling Mizo National Front led by Zoramthanga is looking for a second straight term in the 2023 assembly polls.
The recent draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which pointed to misuse and non-utilisation of funds for the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme doesn't mean the programme is a write-off. The audit will act as a deterrent and spur state governments to work more efficiently, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has said.
Each state will plan it in two districts and preferably in five different session-type settings -- district hospital, community health centre or primary health care centre, urban site, private health facility and rural outreach.
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.
In view of the farmers' protest and march to Parliament, the Delhi police started preparations to check the advancing farmers' march beforehand, an officer said.
Gandhi said the budgetary cuts were weakening the legal guarantee of timely payment and employment. She noted that the Supreme Court had likened the delay in MGNREGA payments with forced labour.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Karnataka minister for rural development and panchayat raj KS Eshwarappa on Wednesday claimed the Bhagwa dhwaj (saffron flag) may become the national flag some time in the future.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said it was not possible to cancel all the coal block allocations but asserted that no one, even if a minister or a senior official, would be spared if found involved in the coal scam.
Major focus will be on adequately funding existing schemes to ensure their timely completion before the next General Elections.
Former Rajasthan minister Mohammad Ameen Khan, who was forced to resign from Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's cabinet following his controversial remarks against President Pratibha Patil, claims that his opponents had blown the issue out of proportion with the connivance of the media.Khan had created a furore by allegedly stating that Patil was made the President due to her loyalty to the Gandhi family and cited instances of her association with Indira Gandhi.
The Union government has released Rs 184 crore to the government of Tamil Nadu -- to construct one lakh houses for families living below the poverty line under the Indira Awaz Yojana -- in Cuddalore and Villupuram where Cyclone Thane had wreaked its havoc.
As indicated by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the UPA government has already initiated process to make higher allocation in social sector.
On one hand Karnataka Agriculture Minister Umesh Katti, Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Rural Development Minister Jagadish Shettar are plotting the fall of Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda, while on the other hand the state continues to reel under drought with 123 taluks declared as drought hit.
Expressing displeasure over moves to deny classical status to Malayalam language, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday informed the assembly that Kerala would fight for it as it is the state's right.
Economy has become a major cause of concern for the new government with GDP dropping to 5.8 per cent in the last quarter of the 2018-19.
As the country eagerly awaits an expected coronavirus vaccination drive in January, at least 125 intended beneficiaries each in four states who had registered on the Co-WIN App were on Monday sent SMSes informing them about the time and place of their 'COVID-19 vaccination' under a mock-drill to administer the shots at designated centres.
'Sweden removed the inheritance tax because many of the rich were fleeing. For example, the owner of IKEA had migrated out of Sweden'
Just 4.6 per cent of all rural households in the country pay income tax while such households with salaried income are close to 10 per cent, the first socio economic and caste census released in eight decades said.
'Favourable treatment to selected areas has been a pattern throughout the state.'
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.
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.
It was business as usual for Jairam Ramesh in his new rural development ministry where he held extensive meetings with officials on his first day that stretched past midnight.
The European Union on Thursday raised concern over its trade with India on two areas, differing tax rates in states and entry barriers for processed food items. Both, it said, are major concerns.
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 Central Bureau of Investigation has named 10 non-government organisations, including the US-based Omidyar, as accused in the case of allegedly conspiring to illegally facilitate the registration and renewal of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act licences.
'We cannot leave our entire unorganised sector to the vagaries of market forces.'
The inquiry commission probing the Adarsh Housing Society scam has issued summons to former Maharashtra chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan to appear before it as witnesses. The two-member commission, which summoned Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde last week, issued summons to Deshmukh, presently Union minister for rural development, and Chavan.Chavan had to step down as the state chief minister last year following the Adarsh controversy.
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.
The meeting was attended by all the cabinet secretaries from the SAARC member states. It was noted that SAARC is transforming into an 'implementation body' and the need to strengthen administrative and delivery mechanisms was emphasized. The cabinet secretaries deliberated upon areas where significant innovations have been tried in various member states to benefit their citizens.
Researchers found that India, along with China and Japan, were the three leading countries in Asia in terms of number of new cases and deaths, where they say cancer has become a more significant public health threat with 94 lakh new cases and 56 lakh deaths in 2019.
The dissidence-hit Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka unit presented a picture of unity on Monday, with rebel leaders joining Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa at a meeting to ask partymen to work for the victory of party candidates in the April 9 bypolls to three assembly constituencies.
Rajasthan minister Ameen Khan, whose remarks on President Pratibha Patil triggered a controversy, on Thursday submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
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.
Heaping praises on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's leadership for not only driving industrial growth but also boosting rural development, Ratan Tata on Wednesday said the Tata Group will partner the state in providing transportation into the hinterlands.
Union Minister for Rural Development and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday said the land for the controversial Adarsh Society belonged to the state and was never reserved for defence personnel or Kargil war heroes. In an affidavit filed before the two-member Adarsh Commission, set up to probe irregularities in the scam-tainted Adarsh Society, Deshmukh said, "The records clearly show that the land belonged to the state government."
