Nearly 65% of adults in the Arab region remain excluded from formal financial systems, according to a new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The Annual SDG Review 2025 paints a sobering picture of persistent financial exclusion that is undermining the region’s ability …
The government will soon set up a technical group to revisit the norms for estimating poverty. This was stated by Minister of State for Planning Ashwani Kumar while replying to queries from members during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha today. “The government has decided to set up a technical …
West Bengal Chief Minister sought refinancing for 18,000-km PMGSY roads Aggravating the face-off between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has shot down West Bengal's demand for financing anew 18,000 km of murram (red sand) roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The …
Chandigarh : Following discussions with top officials of the state government in New Delhi, the Planning Commission today approved a draft Annual Plan (2012-13) for Rs 12,800 crore. The final clearance will come after Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal meets Montek Singh Ahaluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, on …
New Delhi: The government is thinking of letting the states cherry pick the central schemes for rural welfare, a step back from centralized decision-making that it hopes could help quell the accusations that Centre was weakening the federal structure. The idea behind the ‘flexifund route’ is to allow states the …
Would write to Union commerce minister Sharma in this regard Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said the panel will support the industry’s move to declare tea as the national drink of India. Ahluwalia, who was in Jorhat to attend the celebration marking 75 years of Assam Tea …
Guwahati: Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Saturday assured the tea planters in Assam that he will take up the issue of declaring tea as India’s national drink with the union ministry of commerce and industry. Ahluwalia gave the assurance while attending the 75th anniversary celebration …
Drug resistance seems to have emerged as an endemic problem in India and the Union Health Ministry has written to the Planning Commission asking for a national programme to tackle anti-microbial resistance and cover the whole gamut of pathogens. If the Planning Commission decides to include it in the 12th …
Annual plan for Kerala was fixed at Rs 14,010 crore for the year 2012-13 on Friday at a meeting between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy. This is an increase of 27 per cent over last year’s outlay of Rs 11, 030 …
VADODARA: Your morning cup of tea would not fire up your sleepy senses without a little milk in it, and yet a debate has been stirred up on what should be India's national drink - tea or milk. On Saturday, deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia announced in …
After hitting headlines on lack of toilets and roping in filmstars Vidya Balan and Shah rukh Khan for campaign, Union minister of rural development Jairam Ramesh has got an “assurance” from the Planning Commission for a total allocation of a whopping Rs36,000 crores in the 12th five-year plan for Total …
The Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia cautioned Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy against delay in the execution of Hyderabad Metro Rail project. “The delay in the implementation the project could lead to huge cost over-runs,” Dr Singh told Mr Reddy, when they met on Wednesday to discuss …
Planning Commission is eyeing a power capacity of about 100,000 MW in 5 yrs The Planning Commission is unlikely to agree to the Power Ministry's proposal of adding only about 76,000 MW electricity generation capacity in the 12th Plan (2012-17) even as the sector battles acute fuel shortage. According to …
Instead of celebrating the fall in poverty numbers, critics within and outside the UPA keep carping Evidence that poverty has declined since India began to liberalise in the 1980s, that the acceleration in growth to 8-9% range since the mid-2000s has resulted in accelerated poverty reduction and that these trends …
Fertiliser ministry has sent a proposal to finance ministry for creating a sovereign wealth fund. This fund will help the government as well as private companies in the acquisition of mineral assets abroad. “We have sent a proposal to finance ministry for setting up this fund. The ‘size’ of the …
Facing criticism for its inability to meet the growing demand for coal, the government is working on a proposal under which Coal India Ltd (CIL) would engage private sector companies to undertake mining on behalf of the public sector undertaking (PSU). The proposal to involve the private sector under the …
In a major step forward to augment capacity for storing foodgrains for the public distribution system, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has notified 10 sites in as many States for construction of modern silos which shall be declared as mandis enabling farmers to directly sell their produce there. The …
“ Kudankulam atomic reactor's first unit will be commissioned in 45 days'' The Central government is considering allocating 300 MW of additional power to Tamil Nadu from the Central Grid and a proposal to this effect has been placed with the Ministry of Power. This is to help out the …
In its first major initiative of involving corporate India in developmental work, the governmenthas sought big business partnerships in setting up the Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF). Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has written to corporates like Tatas, Reliance, Wipro and Infosys to join the foundation as contributing partners, to …
Admitting that MNREGA has its share of corruption and irregularities, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday guidelines for the revamped version of the Centre’s flagship rural development programme would be in place by May-end. The minister said 30 new activities had been added in MNREGA-2, of which 27 …
With only about 2,000 Gangetic river dolphins left in India, down from tens of thousands just a few decades ago, the Bihar government is planning to set up Asia's first research centre to strengthen conservation efforts to save the endangered mammal. An official in the chief minister's office said the …
