Kozhikode: Kerala and Himachal Pradesh on Saturday announced they will strengthen implementation of their rural development projects by sharing information about feasible models and best practices. Ministers and senior government officials from the two Congress-ruled states met here to discuss ongoing projects and ways to enhance cooperation.
Kerala's Panchayats and Social Welfare Minister MK Muneer gave details about local self governance in the state, community farming and the Kudumbashree programme to visiting Himachal Pradesh Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anil Sharma and his team of officials.
A larger ministerial team from Himachal will soon be in Kerala to study the progress made in the state in the area of social security.
Likewise, a delegation from Kerala will visit the northern Indian state to assess development projects for tribal communities there and to see if the models can be replicated here. The delegation from Himachal had been in Kerala for the past one week. ...
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05:04 AM, May 19, 2013
The ministry of Rural Development was allocated just Rs 5000 crore more than the Rs 74,000 crore in 2012. However, the big story in the rural development ministry is the inability to spend the allocated amount. ...
06:28 PM, Mar 02, 2013
BJP has accused the ruling Congress in Assam of being involved in "siphoning off" money allotted for development projects under the 'Panchayati Raj' system during the past 11 years. Though the Panchayati raj system is for the rural development, it has not happened during the last 11 years of Congress regime as the ruling party indulged in mismanagement and corruption instead of undertaking projects, state BJP President Sarbananda Sonowal claimed....
05:35 PM, Jan 20, 2013
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has conceded that India's image has been battered beyond recognition after the protests over the Delhi gangrape incident, and people expect their leaders to communicate. The Union Minister made the observations in the context of the near breakdown of communication between the political class and the protesters. ...
06:10 PM, Jan 17, 2013
A Rs 300 crore package for housing and roads for vulnerable tribal groups in Odisha's backward Kalahandi district was announced on Sunday by Union minister Jairam Ramesh who said tribals should not be treated as "show pieces for museums". Giving details near the bauxite-rich Niyamgiri hill, the Union Rural Development Minister said Rs 200 crore would be allocated for providing houses under Indira Awas Yojana to vulnerable tribals living in...
02:22 AM, Jan 14, 2013
New Delhi: Newly sworn-in Minister of State for Defence Lalchand Kataria has now been appointed as Minister of State for Rural Development Ministry after much confusion. Kataria, a first-time inductee into the Cabinet, was given his new post after meeting the Prime Minister on Tuesday. His first appointment as MoS Defence was put on hold as the other MoS Defence Jitendra Singh is also from Rajasthan. Kataria had refused to...
08:35 AM, Oct 31, 2012
New Delhi: Days after a ministerial panel finalised the draft of the Land Acquisition Bill, the government on Thursday said some land size thresholds on private purchases have now been left to the discretion of states. "What we are stipulating in this law is that there will be a Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) package for private purchase of land wherever private purchase of land for private parties is taking place....
04:30 PM, Oct 18, 2012
New Delhi: The second meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the controversial land acquisition bill will be held on Monday. The 14-member GoM, headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, was formed last month after some ministers had voiced reservations against certain provisions of the Bill. The GoM is likely to iron out differences among the ministers on the contentious issues, including the clause of prospectivity in the Bill...
11:13 AM, Oct 08, 2012
New Delhi: Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has called the railway the world's biggest open toilet. He was making a pitch for greater funding for bio-toilets. "We are the world's capital for open defacations. 60 per cent of all open defacations in the world are in India. This is a matter of great shame," Ramesh said. "The second dimension of the sanitation problems in India is the Railway, which is...
09:30 AM, Jul 27, 2012
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has defended his decision to retain a role for the government in land acquisition for Public Private Partnerships. "If you are going to leave everything to private purchase it is the small land owner and livelihood losers who are going to be badly affected," he says. CNN-IBN spoke to him regarding the matter. Rupashree Nanda: You have turned down certain important recommendations of the...
01:44 PM, Jul 19, 2012
Passing through Bulandshahar, a rapidly urbanising district in Uttar Pradesh known for its rustic politics and dairying, this reporter chanced upon a group of farmers sitting in protest outside a newly constructed apartment. The farmers occupied a tent that was erected outside the apartment complex. Their complaint was that they were being coerced to sell land for cheap by private players. "We will get only a measly Rs 20 lakh...
03:28 PM, Jun 19, 2012
New Delhi: First it was Vidya Balan and now it is Bill Gates who has come forward to extend support to Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh's sanitation drive. Gates, who has supported India's battle against polio, will now help alter behavioural patterns connected with sanitation. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Ramesh said, "We discussed how the Gates Foundation can support us in bringing behavioural changes along the lines of...
10:19 PM, May 30, 2012
Ranchi: Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said about Rs 1,200 crore could be alloted to include toilet system in a revamped MGNREGA. "I am going to announce in Parliament on large scale expansion in the work schedule of MGNREGA by May 8. (Planning Commission member) Mihir Shah-headed expert committee recommendations are accepted (in this regard)," Ramesh said at a press conference. "One of the important additions is...
12:36 AM, May 01, 2012
Muktsar: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday said his government will make all efforts to transform the state into a developed one in the next two years. "The state government is fully committed to fulfill the aspirations of the people who have given historic mandate in favour of the development policies and programmes of the SAD-BJP alliance government," he told a gathering in his home district. To ensure...
03:40 AM, Apr 07, 2012
Lucknow: In a bid to check corruption and use of sub-standard material in construction work in the rural areas, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to get all works video-graphed. The directives were issued by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Rural Development Arvind Singh 'Gop' to officials on Friday. Asking officials to get every development activity videographed, Gop said any callousness with regards to development work in the...
11:45 AM, Mar 24, 2012
Jammu: CPI(M) in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday asked the state government to lay more emphasis on restructuring of rural development sector in the planning process. Participating in the debate on demands for grants for the departments of Rural Development, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, CPI(M) state Secretary Mohd Yousuf Tarigami said restructuring the rural economy was imperative for socio-economic emancipation of the masses in the state. He demanded MGNREGA be...
12:29 AM, Mar 14, 2012
India's heart pines for Africa - Mahatma Gandhi supposedly said that a long time ago. With China pouring in billions into the continent, that ...
09:22 PM, Mar 08, 2012
New Delhi: Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, defending his controversial decision to impose a moratorium on the commercial release of Bt Brinjal says, "On Bt Brinjal, I would not say, from my experience that foreign NGOs influenced the decision". His remarks came against the backdrop of Prime Minister's comments that some NGOs based in the United States and Scandinavian countries were not "fully appreciative" of the development challenges India faces...
04:42 PM, Feb 27, 2012
New Delhi: Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, defending his controversial decision to impose a moratorium on the commercial release of Bt Brinjal says, "On Bt Brinjal, I would not say, from my experience that foreign NGOs influenced the decision". His remarks came against the backdrop of Prime Minister's comments that some NGOs based in the United States and Scandinavian countries were not "fully appreciative" of the development challenges India faces...
04:42 PM, Feb 27, 2012
New Delhi: Social activist Anna Hazare will receive an award for his contribution to rural development, at a function in Delhi on Thursday. Delhi's Lt Governor's Tejinder Khanna will present Anna with Rs 25 lakh prize and a citation. Meanwhile, Team Anna will be holding their core committee meeting also later in the day. Anna returned to his native village Ralegan Siddhi on February 18 with core committee member Arvind...
08:43 AM, Feb 23, 2012
