Appreciating the India-Oman collaboration, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday dedicated the Bina refinery in Sagar to the nation.

The Centre on Thursday sanctioned an additional Rs 200 crore for Bundelkhand with the allocation aimed at addressing drinking water problems in the districts belonging to the region.

The fresh infusion, over and above the Rs 7,266 crore special package that was announced for the region, following intervention Rahul Gandhi, was approved by the Cabinet on Thursday.

With the Congress deciding to hold a rally in Banda on April 30 to highlight the miseries of the people living in Bundelkhand, the Bahujan Samaj Party Government has revived Uttar Pradesh's demand for a special package saying "without this help the region cannot prosper".

"The State Government does not have resources of its own to start a special scheme.

LUCKNOW: The forest officers were directed by the forest minister to meet the plantation targets for Bundelkhand and Vindhyachal regions for 2011-12 on time.

Claiming that river linking projects are not only destructive to environment but also turn unscientific, unethical and against people

Constant efforts are being made to increase milk production in Bundelkhand by the MP State Cooperative Dairy Federation. So far, the federation has constituted 120 milk cooperatives in the region since July 2010. Three thousand 565 members of these cooperatives are collecting six thousand 124 litres of milk on an average daily. The members have collected 3 lakh 63 thousand litres of milk so far.

Expansion of irrigation facilities in the six districts of Bundelkhand region is in full swing in Madhya Pradesh. For the purpose, the State Government has framed a special action plan worth `1,118 crore.

Under the plan, various projects have been initiated in the region.

The works will be completed in three years.

Pests, Frost & Inability To Repay Loans Behind Desperation
Damoh: At 9pm on December 28, Nandaram Raikwa from Kuluwakala village walked into the fields behind his house with a can of kerosene. Standing there amid a totally destroyed crop of arhar lentils, he poured the fuel on his body and set himself alight. Hearing screams, villagers rescued him and doused the flames.

LUCKNOW: In a bid to promote bamboo cultivation and its usage, the state forest department along with the national bamboo mission would hold a workshop here on January 10. Currently, in India, there are 1,275 varieties of bamboo.

The national bamboo mission is to be implemented in 20 districts of the state. UP had sanctioned Rs 4.10 crore under the mission in 2008.

An administrative sanction was accorded for the construction of Urmil Danyi canal and the re-construction of Ranganwa high level canal project under Bundelkhand package at Naugaon in Chhatarpur district. An amount of Rs 40 crore 74 lakh was sanctioned for Urmil Danyi and Ranganwa canal project is allotted Rs 34 crore 57 lakh.