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: The skyline of Indian cities could soar as the government considers permitting vertical growth with the aim of checking runaway realty prices and generating resources to upgrade urban infrastructure for future growth. A Planning Commission steering committee, in its draft report, has recommended providing additional FSI (floor space …
Bihar, that “model of growth” its government never tires of promoting, has at the same time been pushing for special category status on grounds of how poorly placed it is in comparison with other states. “As per 2010-11 figures (of the Central Statistical Organisation), per capita income of Bihar (Rs …
The Bihar Government’s plan and efforts to upgrade its primary education infrastructure received a jolt as the Centre drastically cut its contributory share of funds under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme during the just-concluded financial year. The state’s Education Minister PK Shahi said that out of the Centre’s share …
In a move that will intensify the turf war between the power and coal ministries, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has suggested that the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) be allowed to discharge functions of the proposed coal regulator, that has been in the limbo for three years now. In a …
SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Government will seek Rs 27,000 crore from the Planning Commission for the 12th five year plan. The proposed amount for the next five years was approved by the State Cabinet on Wednesday. Simultaneously, the Cabinet also approved the annual plan for the year 2012 at Rs 3535 …
Why Montek Singh Ahluwalia is at the receiving end whenever he puts out any figures on poverty reduction Suresh Tendulkar died in June last year. But even when he was alive, he was rarely attacked by politicians for his work on calculating poverty. Strangely, the person who ends up getting …
Centre to set targets and give funds operational plan to come from states The Planning Commission will give a big thrust on health through a much wider programme than the existing National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), in the 12th five-year Plan that begins from today. It would be a pan-India …
Moving towards major reforms, the Centre is in the process of rolling out a universal health coverage package in at least one district in each State on an experimental basis. This would include a clearly defined basket of services to those who come to any public health facility for treatment …
The Planning Commission on Thursday approved Tripura’s Plan outlay of Rs 2,250 crore for 2012-13, which is 15.38 per cent higher than the allocation for this fiscal. “The annual Plan size of Rs 2,250 crore for the year 2012-13 for Tripura was finalised here at a meeting between Deputy Chairman, …
Grappling with the Supreme Court order to set up a special committee for implementation of the rivers inter-linking project, the Water Resources Ministry is consulting the Law Ministry on seeking a review of the order. The Ministry, it is reliably learnt, is seeking opinion for review of the mammoth committee …
Lucknow Uttar Pradesh’s bleeding power sector can breathe a sigh of relief from the never-ending saga of resource crunch, pressure from financial institutions and day-to-day exercise of managing funds for virtually everything, thanks to the Centre’s approval in principle for a R15,000-crore financial restructuring plan spanned over a period of …
5.5 per cent of the Indian population is already aged over 65 years The World Health Organisation's theme on the upcoming World Health Day this year is “Ageing and Health”. According to Census 2011 data, 5.5 per cent of the Indian population is already aged over 65 years. While this …
New Delhi All public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the power transmission sector, including intra-state transmission networks, will now qualify for government grants under the viability-gap funding (VGF) scheme, making them attractive to private sector investors. The VGF scheme, finalised by the finance ministry few years back to promote investment in …
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is UPA's man with the political Midas touch. He needs to lend some of that magic to lift the economy out of its morass. By the Government's own estimate, the economy is expected to grow by a mere 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, a sharp decline …
Tuesday's meeting to examine the pricing policy prepared by ministry of chemicals & fertilisers On Tuesday, a group of ministers (GoM) led by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar will examine the proposed National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPP) prepared by the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers. The key issue is to vet …
“We are the only country where vested interests want to keep the figures high” Even as the Centre is trying to find a face-saving solution to the issue of embarrassing poverty estimates put out by the Planning Commission, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Sunday wondered why people …
Gangtok: The poverty level in Sikkim has gone down with 80,000 people now living below poverty line, according to the new official estimates for 2009-2010 released by the Planning Commission. While in 2004-2005, poverty level in Sikkim stood at 30.9 per cent with 1,70,000 people living under BPL, in the …
The Tendulkar Committee’s recommendations on poverty have run out of takers, at least in the political circles. Under pressure from all sides over its estimate of people living below the poverty line, the Planning Commission on Thursday effectively abandoned the Tendulkar panel’s estimation method. A committee would be constituted to …
It will not work at cross purposes with the Abhijit Sen committee: Ashwani Kumar In a bid to address the rising concerns, within and outside Parliament, over the latest poverty estimates released by the Planning Commission, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday declared that a technical group would be put …
