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 the states.
"Over the next five years, we will move to a situation where the entire cost will be borne by the centre," Ramesh told reporters in Delhi. The total cost of the project which was approved by the cabinet on May 1, 2013, would be Rs 1,650 crore for 2013-14 out of which Rs 1,400 crore would be borne by the central government and Rs 250 crore by the states.
The cabinet also decided to do away with the BPL (below poverty line) category in the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) of which the women's Self Help Group scheme is a part. "From now on, who the poor women are would be decided by the gram sabha," Ramesh said.
There are around 25 lakh women's self help groups in the country with nearly 3 crore members. Ramesh said that over the next five years, the number of members is likely to go up to 7 crore. The minister said he has proposed a separate Nabard-like institution to promote women's SHGs to Finance Minister P Chidambaram. ...
05:06 AM, May 07, 2013
A bill to regulate street vendors in public areas and protect their rights is likely to be passed in the ongoing Budget Session. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood & Regulation of Street Vending) Bill is likely to be passed in this ongoing Budget Session, Union Housing Development and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Ajay Maken said in Mumbai on Tuesday. ...
06:53 PM, Feb 26, 2013
A bill will be introduced in the Budget session of Parliament to grant rights to street vendors for ensuring their livelihood without any harassment by various agencies, Union Minister Ajay Maken said on Sunday. ...
02:56 AM, Jan 28, 2013
Claiming that the central government was taking away West Bengal's entire revenue for servicing its debt, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused it of being insensitive towards the needs of her state. ...
12:05 AM, Dec 25, 2012
New Delhi: A bill to protect the rights of street vendors and regulate street vending activities was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday amid opposition uproar over coal block allocation. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja. As per the provisions of the Bill, anyone over 14 years...
03:18 PM, Sep 06, 2012
Udhagamandalam: Protesting the closure of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), following a Supreme Court order, shops remained shut and tourist jeeps were off the road in Masinagudi, Mavanallah and Vazhaithottam near Mudumalai on Friday. Traders and drivers while appealing to the forest department to take steps to reopen the tiger reserve, said that their livelihood depended on the flow of tourists. The forest officials had asked the drivers not to transport...
12:42 PM, Jul 28, 2012
New Delhi: The Government on Monday unveiled a blueprint for guaranteeing internal and external security and economic and livelihood security as it expressed confidence that it will steer the country back to the high growth trajectory of 8 to 9 per cent. With the government's image taking a knock on account of a number of scams, President Pratibha Patil listed a number of measures and said together these have the...
12:04 PM, Mar 12, 2012
Washington: The World Bank has approved $ 1 billion credit for National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP), which it said is aimed at strengthening the implementation of the newly launched National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). NRLM is one of the world's largest poverty reduction initiative of approximately $ 7.7 billion, aiming to reach 350 million people or almost a quarter of India s population. It would help NRLM create an institutional...
11:51 AM, Jul 06, 2011
New Delhi: After the ambitious NREGS, the UPA II's is attempting to reach out to rural India by giving makeover to a decade old poverty alleviation programme known as the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). With this programme UPA is hoping for a makeover, from being corruption ridden to being compassionate. Minister of Rural Development Vilasrao Deshmukh, trusted with the politically crucial rural development ministry confirms fears that the benefits ...
10:07 AM, Jun 03, 2011
New Delhi: After the ambitious NREGS, the UPA II's is attempting to reach out to rural India by giving makeover to a decade old poverty alleviation programme known as the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). With this programme UPA is hoping for a makeover, from being corruption ridden to being compassionate. Minister of Rural Development Vilasrao Deshmukh, trusted with the politically crucial rural development ministry confirms fears that the benefits...
10:07 AM, Jun 03, 2011
Before Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the Union Budget for 2011-12, many political observers felt that he may just use it as an opportunity to shore up the governments diminishing equity. Others expected some big-ticket reforms to indicate that the government had recovered from the sting of a series of scams and meant business worthy of the mandate people gave it two years ago. Belying either expectation, Mukherjee laid out...
06:39 PM, Mar 15, 2011
The growing distance between the minister and his own council members will adversely impact the architecture of the job guarantee scheme in states. ...
07:48 AM, Oct 07, 2010
Rural Development Minister C P Joshi said NREGA is just a beginning. ...
04:30 PM, Jun 17, 2009
