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 …
New Delhi: Sriprakash Jaiswal has revived the turf war — literally — over NTPC’s North Karanpura power project in Jharkhand. The coal minister has raised the red flag over building such ‘super structures’ on coal-bearing land on the ground these would block efforts to rapidly ramp up production of the …
The Union Cabinet, on Thursday, would take a call on coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal’s proposal to switch over to an ad valorem regime of royalty for coal and lignite. Jaiswal has proposed to levy an ad valorem rate of 14 per cent for coal and 6 per cent for lignite. …
Keeping in mind the limitations on increasing water supply, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday said that a large part of effort to plug the demand-supply gap must focus on increasing water use efficiency. “There is no regulation of ground water extraction and no coordination among competing uses. Inadequate and sub-optimal …
Against the backdrop of a Supreme Court direction asking the Centre to constitute a committee for rivers inter-linking, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said before inter-basin transfer of water a variety of issues needed to be settled first. While hoping that the proposed committee under the Water …
In a move which may open a Pandora’s box for the Centre, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has sought coal at a special subsidised rate for local consumption from the Planning Commission. Ms Banerjee told Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia that since 80 …
In an unusual reference to farmers, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his inaugural speech at the India Water Week on Tuesday, said: “Groundwater sources of drinking water often fail due to competition over the same aquifer between public drinking water systems and private irrigation.” “Private irrigation” is a new term …
The Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a 16 per cent hike in the central plan outlay to West Bengal to arrive at a figure of Rs 25,910 crore for this fiscal, which was what chief minister Mamata Banerjee is said to have asked for, although the Centre is still non-committal …
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today called for a legislation to regulate extraction of groundwater by competing users and said inadequate pricing of both power and water were leading to the misuse of groundwater in the country. He backed mechanisms where primary stakeholders could be involved in the pricing of water. …
Terming groundwater a common resource, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday advocated strong laws to regulate its extraction. He also favoured transparent and participatory pricing to prevent water misuse. “Inadequate and sub-optimal pricing of power and water are promoting misuse of groundwater,” Dr Singh said, while inaugurating the …
India's Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia yesterday said a variety of environmental, economic and technical issues need to be settled before implementation of the ambitious inter-linking of rivers. Referring to the Himalayan component of rivers inter-linking, Ahluwalia said “effective exploitation” of capacity of these rivers is critically dependent …
The annual Plan outlay for West Bengal for the year 2012-13 has been finalised at Rs. 25,910 crore, a 16 per cent hike from the Plan outlay of 2011-12, which was pegged at Rs 22,214 crore. The Plan outlay was decided at a meeting here today between Planning Commission deputy …
The Union ministry of agriculture has decided to delay the rollout of the revamped Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) by a year, to the next financial year (2013-14). Official sources said the ministry proposed to continue all its existing schemes under its flagship programme, RKVY, in the current financial year. …
It is back to the 1970s as far as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is concerned. The job guarantee scheme is set to provide food grain as part of wages. The rural development ministry, which found its NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) allocations squeezed in the Budget, has …
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has written to Union Water Resources Minister P. K. Bansal to fast track the Renuka Dam project. The Chief Minister has expressed concern that further stalling of the project will jeopardise the city's water security. The dam has been proposed on the Giri River in Himachal …
Amid fractious relations between the Congress and Trinamool Congress, the Centre is likely to approve West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s demand for an increased annual plan outlay for her state. The move is being pegged as an attempted thaw in the equation between the two UPA allies. Mamata is …
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has asked Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal to enlist private mine developers expeditiously to explore Coal India Limited’s (CIL) mines through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) route. Pitching for devising a transparent mechanism for fair selection of the private companies, Ahluwalia has offered the …
AHMEDABAD: A fund for public health should be created by levying specific taxes on tobacco, alcohol, petrol and junk foods, believes Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) faculty Dileep Mavalankar. "Taxes should also be levied on any food item that has more than 10% sugar or fat and has high …
India’s coal crisis is a disaster-in-waiting. The government must answer some tough queries -The deeper you go into the reasons behind India's ongoing coal crisis, the more it appears to be a tale of a disaster-in-waiting. Innumerable questions beg an answer. Some have obvious answers: bureaucracy, corruption and connivance. For …
In a move that would dilute the authority of Railways to fix passenger fares, a Planning Commission group has suggested giving the powers to decide tariffs to the Railways Rate Tribunal (RET), a quasi-judicial body which adjudicates freight disputes. "The scope of Railway Rates Tribunal can be expanded to cover …
The professional divide on Tendulkar’s estimation goes a long way back A committee is being set up to devise yet another methodology to estimate poverty in India. The step has led to some unhappiness among economists and experts that it amounts to junking the services and competence of an expert …
