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).
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's proposal about setting up an all-women bank -- first suggested in this year's budget -- received much acclaim.The proposed bank will lend mostly to women and women- run businesses, support women self-help groups and women's livelihood, Chidambaram had said.
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.
The Group of Ministers on Telangana is set to discuss the draft bill for the creation of Telangana on Saturday.
Union Minister for Rural Development on Thursday met nine Union Ministers with the draft of a Bill for lower level bureaucracy, which is likely to be presented in parliament by early next week.
Congress will fight against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and not BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections as the Sangh is now in control of the saffron party, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday.
Nomination papers of Pranab Mukhejee, for the Presidential poll on July 19, are being readied, according to sources. Senior Union ministers and Members of Parliament have been summoned to Parliament House on Wednesday to affix their signatures on Mukherjee's papers.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday issued a three-line whip to all of its Lok Sabha MPs asking them to be present in the House for the passing of the Union Budget 2025-26.
Union minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday attacked the Central Bureau of Investigation for initiating preliminary enquiry against ex-SEBI chairman C B Bhave and ex-member K M Abraham on the issue of granting sanction to MCX Stock Exchange, and alleged that "larger forces" were working to fix them.
A few days after praising the Aam Aadmi Party government, Union minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday attacked it, saying Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his colleagues were an "embarrassment" and not "sober people" for governance.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram is Congress nominee from Maharashtra for the biennial elections to Rajya Sabha while senior leaders Kapil Sibal and Jairam Ramesh have been named from Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka respectively.
The opposition party's remarks come after Bihar ministers claimed that the latest report of NITI Aayog's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index 2023-24 vindicated the state's long-standing demand for greater central financial assistance.
Congress party circles are talking about a major Cabinet reshuffle on September 18. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Public Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad and Social Justice Minister Mukul Wasnik are said to be tipped for party organisational work, while party spokesman Janardan Dwivedi and his junior Manish Tiwari are likely to be included in the Union Cabinet.
In what Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has called the UPA's 'slog overs', several policy changes were announced, and proposed laws cleared.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday began his three-day tour to take stock of four drought-hit states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka.
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.
Union minister Jairam Ramesh termed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as a "blot" on the country and the Congress and suggested that more needs to be done for the victims and to bring the guilty to book.
In an apparent answer to crusader Anna Hazare's team mobilising the masses suffering corruption of the lower level bureaucracy, the government has quietly kicked of drafting of a Bill for creating a mechanism for the public services grievance redressal.
The Opposition on Tuesday termed the Union Budget as a 'kursi bachao budget' driven by political compulsions and claimed that it ignored opposition-ruled states in a bid to 'appease' Bharatiya Janata Party's allies.
Ramesh's reply came when he was asked whether grants would be provided to Karnataka for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Indira Awas Yojana as the state was now under the Congress rule.
The new Land Acquisition Act, which he hoped to notify by January 1, 2014, does not have under its purview 13 different acts, which dealt with land acquisition for various government projects, including the national highways, power transmission and railways.
The Supreme Court, by a majority view of 3:2, upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitution amendment providing 10 per cent reservation to people belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS) in admissions and government jobs.
In a shake up ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan resigned on Saturday from the Union Council of Ministers and more may be in line for being drafted into party work.
West Bengal is yet to implement the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, the law that replaced the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, on January 1 this year.
The just-concluded meeting of the Group of Ministers has remained inconclusive and the same team would meet again on Wednesday. The contentious issue was the creation of a Rayal-Telangana and the GoM sought to know if this could be proposed despite it not being part of the Cabinet note.
In a scathing attack on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Congress leader and Union Minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday accused him of being "masterly inactive" over Muzaffarnagar riots and adopting a "cynical strategy" of believing that it would divide voters.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate the new building to house the Environment Ministry.
Congress party will hold a protest rally called Zameen Wapsi Andolan in New Delhi on Wednesday.
'All the hoardings showed only Rahulji. No pictures of Indiraji and Rajivji. What is the Congress's worth without its history? It is unthinkable that none of our hoardings shows Indira and Rajiv. It was a total fiasco to see that many advertisements were in black and white. In such competitive politics, how can you experiment?' fumes a Congress leader.
Singh was widely regarded as an expert in the rural and agricultural landscape of the country and is credited with the conceptualisation and implementation of the NREGA (National Rural Guarantee Employment) Act.
In her letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi three days ago, Kidwai said she was relinquishing charge as party general secretary and Mahila Congress chief as he felt that Rahul Gandhi should be given the necessary space to bring in younger leaders of his choice
Taking the battle on the land bill issue to social media, Congress on Saturday launched a "Zameen Wapsi" website on the eve of its farmers' rally which is expected to see the first major attack on the government by Rahul Gandhi after his return from leave of absence.
Modi said he dared to say so even though his image as a Hindutva leader did not allow him.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cleanliness drive should be about Indians keeping themselves and their surroundings clean. It cannot be a day-long or time-bound campaign, Sulabh founder Bindeshwar Pathak tells Upasna Pandey.
CBI has also named unknown officials of the union environment ministry in the PE.
Congress vice president's reactions came hours after the Union Cabinet decided to recommend repromulgation of the controversial ordinance for the third time.
The Group of Ministers constituted for the creation of a separate state of Telangana on Wednesday discussed the sharing of river water and irrigation resources in Andhra Pradesh after the state's bifurcation, but failed to arrive at a resolution.
Congress leaders on Tuesday threw a protective shield around party Vice President Rahul Gandhi against the predicted rout in the elections and went on to say that he will remain their leader for the future.
The Congress on Saturday released its election manifesto for Telangana, promising socially-inclusive growth with focus on jobs and social justice and a three-pronged approach for building the new state.
Though there is a full-throated clamour in the Congress that party vice-president Rahul Gandhi be formally named as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Nehru-Gandhi scion is personally not convinced that his projection will yield electoral dividends.
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