Jaipur: The UPA’s mid-day meal programme in Rajasthan is in tatters. The recently released Monitoring Institutions (MIs) report has revealed glaring anomalies in implementation of the scheme with many children in the state not getting any benefits and some actually going hungry.

According to a report, the scheme is not being implemented on a regular basis in some schools in the Pali district. The findings, based on figures between April 2011 and September 2011, were shared recently by the Union HRD ministry.

JAIPUR: Nearly 68 hectares of forest land in Tijara area in Alwar will be handed over to the state mining department for mining. The state mines department is preparing a fresh proposal for the same, which would be forwarded to the forests and environment department, which in turn would send it for clearance to the Centre. The final clearance would come from the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF).

"The proposal is being worked on and would be sent to forest department by month end,'' a senior officer of mining department said.

JAIPUR: After mining denuding the topography ruthlessly, there is hope for the Aravalis and Vindhya ranges in the state as Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) undertakes restoration of ecological status through reforestation. The project would also increase green cover, improve water table and augment the economy of the villagers besides reducing dependence on the forests.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Wednesday sanctioned Rs 284.33 crore for the first phase of the greening project. The total outlay is more than Rs 900 crore which will be distributed in three phases to the forest department.

A 22-year-old entrepreneur is bringing electricity to villages through a technology that produces and stores renewable energy on location, reports Peerzada Abrar.

JAIPUR/ALWAR: After being pulled up by the Rajasthan High Court for failing to curb illegal mining, the Alwar police kicked off a campaign against the menace in Tapukada and Behror area late on Wednesday night. The authorities seized a large number of mining equipment and cordoned off a huge area where the illegal activities are being carried out.

It seems the state government and the police have met a dead end when it comes to curbing illegal mining. At one level, labourers are getting killed due to poor safety standards or mine collapses. At another level, when the police are asked to pull up socks against the mafia, they themselves are attacked.

On Monday, in Asojai village on the outskirts of Jaipur, one mine worker was killed and three others injured when a portion of a mine collapsed. On the same day, a braveheart policeman was mowed down by mining mafia in Dholpur when he attempted to stop trucks carrying stones.

An ambitious plan for poverty eradication is set to benefit thousands of below poverty line households in Bharatpur and make the district poverty-free by 2015. Through a well-planned strategy for self and wage employment generation, the plan would benefit 11,000 BPL families of the total of 49,394 such households in the district during the current financial year.

According to the figures compiled by the Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation, which has formulated the poverty eradication plan, the total rural population in the nine blocks of Bharatpur district is 20.54 lakh, which includes the BPL population of 2.46 lakh.

JAIPUR: A division bench of Rajasthan high court has observed that the mining mafia is at its peak in the state and there is no effort to check them. The court made this remark while hearing a PIL filed by a Bharatpur-based advocate.

The petitioner, Battu Singh, has moved the court alleging that four politically powerful persons have been doing illegal mining in forest area in Bayan tehsil of Bharatpur. The case is being heard by Chief Justice Arun Kumar Mishra and Justice N K Jain (senior).

JAIPUR: A division bench of the Rajasthan High Court, headed by Chief Justice Arun Kumar Mishra on Thursday asked the state government to stop all illegal minings in the 21-km stretch of Kala Pahar

In a bid to get back the rare migratory Siberian cranes to India, Environment Ministry has signed an MoU with Siberia to coordinate its conservation and protection.