Some projects under the Smart Cities Mission would not be able to meet the June 30 deadline and the respective state governments would be responsible for completing them thereafter, Union Housing and Urban
European lawmakers backed an emergency plan to save the world's biggest market for carbon allowances from collapse on Tuesday, but put off drafting the necessary legislation, sending prices down by as
Caution Centre against trying to rush the new measure through Parliament Even as the Centre hopes to introduce and pass the National Food Security Bill in the coming Budget session of Parliament, several States have expressed reservations on the Bill. At a consultation meeting of State Food Ministers here to evolve a consensus on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee to which the government Bill was referred on Wednesday, many States differed on crucial provisions, particularly the ones relating to identification of beneficiaries, sustained availability of grains, proposed cut in individual entitlement and additional expenses to be borne by them.
State governments are raising objections about the coverage under the proposed Food Security Bill, saying that covering 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of urban as advocated by both the draft Bill and the Standing Committee of Parliament is unacceptable. “The Centre is saying that the proposed food Bill will ensure food for all. But in reality, this is not the case,” West Bengal Food Minister Jyotipriya Mullick said. He said the Centre should instead cover all sections of the population under the Bill and there should not be any provision for cash transfers under the Bill.
He was addressing the consultation meet of state food ministers on Food Bill here. With Centre planning to present Food Bill in the Budget session of Parliament, Food Minister K V Thomas today urged states to evolve a consensus on contentious issues like coverage and identification of beneficiaries. The Food Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011, aims to give legal right over subsidised foodgrains to two-third of the country's population.
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said it will constitute an inter-ministerial committee within a week that will help resolve various issues raised by private companies on coal allocation. “There are a number of issues which need to be addressed. We have got feedback from the private sector with regards to linkages for the captive coal blocks or the ones which are facing environmental clearance issues,” coal secretary SK Srivastava told reporters.
It will investigate the role of public servants in undue favours to private firms In a significant development, the Central Bureau of Investigation has decided to widen its probe into Coalgate, covering allegations that the delay in tabling of the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2008, in Parliament was deliberate. The CBI has found out that the system the authorities adopted for the formation of joint ventures was not transparent and accused public servants of vested interest in the award of the contract for development of mines or forming joint ventures with private parties, unduly benefitting a large number of private firms, it said in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, which is hearing a petition on the scam.
New Delhi: The UPA is set to redraft the National Food Security Bill with greater benefits than what the government had earlier offered or the parliamentary standing committee had recently recommended. The move comes after the intervention of the Congress high command to ensure that the bill does not fall short of the benchmark the National Advisory Council (NAC) had once set for UPA’s grand scheme.
A Bill prohibiting manual scavenging can be passed in the Budget Session if Parliament exhibits its resolve to eliminate this “despicable” practice, the Rural Development Minister, Jairam Ramesh said here
Growing mounds of electronic scrap can mean profits or scandals. Poor countries have long been a popular destination for the rich world’s toxic trash. In 1987 an Italian importer sparked international
Bill Will Be Reintroduced In Parliament In Budget Session, Says MoS K V Thomas Kochi: The Centre is in broad agreement with the suggestions of the parliamentary panel on food, which has just submitted its report on the much-debated food security bill, said minister of state for food and civil supplies K V Thomas. “The panel has come up with a near unanimous report, barring a dissent from the CPM member. Many of the suggestions made by the panel were already there in the ‘plan B’, being considered by the government to proceed with the bill,” the minister told TOI here.
