Dhar (MP): Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said Naxalism is strong only in those states where Congress is not in power. "Naxalism is strong only in those states where Congress is not in power like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha among others," the Union Minister said, addressing a 'Parivartan Rally' in Bordha village of the district.
Ramesh said that whenever Congress is weakened in these states, Naxalism has grown stronger. However, he said that in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh Naxalism was not becoming strong as Congress and its organisation is stronger in the state.
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08:55 PM, May 16, 2013
New Delhi: "Special session is an option, monsoon session is an option, ordinance is an option - what is not an option is the non-passage of these two bills," Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said while talking about the government's plan of getting its ambitious food and land bills through. Ramesh preferred that the bills should be passed "the democratic way" through debate in Parliament while ordinances should be the...
03:32 PM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: Women's self help groups in the country would be provided bank loans at an interest rate of seven per cent from now on, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Monday. The scheme would be initially started as a pilot project in 150 districts and in rest of the states, 75 per cent of the cost would be borne by the central government and 25 per cent by...
05:06 AM, May 07, 2013
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday promised to shut down, in a phased manner, "belt shops" or illegal outlets of licensed liquor shops spread across the state. He made the announcement while addressing a public meeting at Eluru in West Godavari district when union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh made a fervent appeal. Ramesh said the chief minister should take the initiative as the women...
04:47 AM, May 06, 2013
New Delhi: Despite BJP escalating confrontation in Parliament, government has listed two key bills, including the ambitious National Food Security Bill, for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill piloted by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh is also on the legislative agenda of the Lok Sabha Thursday. Congress has often dubbed the Food Bill and the Land Bill as "game-changers" as...
09:15 PM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: The government plans to provide subsidy to 14 crore LPG subscribers directly in their bank accounts from October 1, using the Aadhaar payment platform. The government, official sources said, has decided to launch "Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for LPG throughout the country tentatively from October 1". "This (transfer of LPG subsidy) would require a much larger number of beneficiaries to be covered for opening of bank accounts and...
12:41 PM, Apr 28, 2013
New Delhi: Downplaying CAG's report on the Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that it is a performance and not a financial audit. Ramesh said, "It is CAG's job to find shortcomings and if they don't show, it means they are not doing their job." Ramesh further said that the audit was conducted only after the government requested for it. The clarification comes after...
03:50 PM, Apr 23, 2013
New Delhi: CPI(M) Politburo Member Brinda Karat reiterated the Left party's demand to send the Land Bill back to a Select Committee. Karat was speaking to CNN-IBN's Rupashree Nanda. Here's the transcript of the interview: CNN IBN: The signal that came out of the all party meet that was held on the April 18 was that the Left had agreed not to send the Land Bill back to the Select...
10:27 PM, Apr 22, 2013
New Delhi: Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh during the all party meeting on Thursday said there was an agreement that the Land Bill should be brought for discussion and passing in the second half of the Budget Session. The minister is hopeful of finally replacing the colonial, 119-year-old Land Acquisition Act with a fairer law but added that Parliament must function. Between April 9-18, Ramesh reached out to leaders cutting...
09:45 PM, Apr 18, 2013
Anand: Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh dismissed talks of the next general elections becoming a contest between personalities, possibly involving Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, and said elections in India are fought between parties. "Our political system is not like the American system. Polls are not fought between two individuals but between parties. We should not trivialise the polls. The polls are not about...
10:52 AM, Apr 14, 2013
Anand: Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said the Centre will bring in revised Land Acquisition Bill in the forthcoming session of Parliament as there was a political consensus on it. "We will bring the revised bill in this session. All political parties want to get it passed," Ramesh said. "States have given their suggestions and I have also met opposition leaders like Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj...
05:17 PM, Apr 13, 2013
Matigara: Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said that with the coming of the Mamata Banerjee government, West Bengal has moved from one dictatorship to another. "It is the mistake of the people that the state has moved from one dictatorship ("tanashahi") by the Left Front to another dictatorship by the Trinamool Congress," Ramesh told Congress party workers here in Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district. Criticising the West...
03:20 AM, Apr 08, 2013
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh wants a CBI probe in Uttar Pradesh into the misappropriation of funds meant for building rural roads under the government's flagship programme, the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana. Interestingly, the five roads where misappropriation has been detected are in Sultanpur district, and fall in Amethi, the parliamentary constituency of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. ...
08:48 AM, Mar 28, 2013
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has demanding a CBI enquiry into alleged embezzlement of funds under Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana in Uttar Pradesh. ...
06:59 PM, Mar 27, 2013
West Bengal's opposition Congress on Tuesday said it has asked the union government to initiate a probe into the improper utilisation of rural employment guarantee funds in the state. ...
09:38 PM, Mar 26, 2013
Union Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday rode pillion on a two-wheeler to go around villages in Naxal-hit Jhumra Hills area of Jharkand. After his visit, the Rural Development Minister said the Centre would soon announce the Jhumra Action Plan (JAP) to develop the villages of three contiguous districts in the area. The villages covered by Ramesh were all under-developed. ...
01:26 AM, Mar 25, 2013
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday mooted 20-year moratorium on mining in tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh. Addressing a public meeting at G K Veedhi, a an interior tribal area in Visakhapatnam district, he suggested to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to impose the ban on mining as it gives rise to Maoist activity. ...
03:10 AM, Mar 18, 2013
In a fresh twist in the battle for minimum wages for workers under MNREGA, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has yet again written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh proposing a solution to the standoff between the UPA government and activists over the right of MNREGA workers to get minimum wages, as notified in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, in each state. ...
11:14 AM, Mar 10, 2013
Union Minister Jairam Ramesh has agreed to universal pensions by doing away with the BPL criteria. This means if the Cabinet approves this decision, 6 crore more people will get pensions. ...
02:26 PM, Mar 07, 2013
Government is planning to bring in reforms in NSAP pension scheme to include more socially and economically deprived people by covering single women and reducing minimum eligibility age for widows from 40 years to 18 years. The revised scheme which is expected to cost Rs 1,31,626 crore will have an exclusion criteria and the assistance extended to beneficiaries would be indexed to annual inflation. ...
07:15 PM, Mar 04, 2013
