Eminent economist Abhijit Banerjee adds that cash transfer not the only answer to end poverty

Seeking a new, renegotiated role for the state in development of India and ending poverty, eminent economist Abhijit Banerjee and Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said a fresh look was needed at what the state could do and what it should do immediately. Ramesh flagged the challenges of poverty: while overall poverty levels may have been going down, there were new dimensions of impoverishment. He referred to ecological poverty, which was causing large scale of land degradation, leaving huge populations without access to water and forests

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court on Thursday favoured establishment of special fast track courts to handle cases linked to various scams in implementation of the rural job guarantee scheme

New DelhiThe Land Acquisition Bill, which has been surrounded by controversies, is set for further delay as the Cabinet is unlikely to take it up at its meeting tomorrow despite the group of ministers (GoM) approving it.

Sources said the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, is not on the agenda of Thursday's Cabinet meeting even though the government intends to introduce it in Parliament in the Winter Session beginning November 22.

The DoNER ministry has sanctioned Rs 77 crore for two roads – Rs 60 crore for the Bhabanipur-Manas National Park road and Rs 17 crore for the Saibari-Itakhola-Seijosa road

GUWAHATI: On Monday, the Assam Government signed a loan agreement with the World Bank and the Government of India for 320 million US dollars for the Assam State Road Project. But the good news does not end there. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) sanctioned Rs 77 crore for development of roads in Assam. Meanwhile, the State Public Works Department (PWD) is also making an estimate for 5,000-km concrete road in rural areas under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh’s plan to make welfare schemes more effective through real-time evaluation of the .

Don't flush away these ideas.

New Delhi By defining “public purpose” very broadly in the relevant legislation, the government will ensure private investors in state-controlled infrastructure projects almost always receive its help in mobilising the land required.

The land Bill vetted by a group of ministers earlier and set to to taken up by the Union Cabinet after Diwali will contain an exhaustive list of 29 infrastructure areas as involving public purpose. This means that the government can acquire land for public-private partnership (PPP) projects in these areas, provided the projects are majority-owned by the government and two-thirds of the land owners give their consent. Such public-purpose PPP projects are also eligible for some concessions from state governments, which could reduce the cost of acquisition.

Thrust on improving connectivity in Maoist-affected districts

With a thrust on improving connectivity in the three Maoist activity-affected districts of West Bengal, the Centre on Friday cleared road projects worth Rs.3,432 crore. The clearance was given by the Empowered Committee of the Prime Minister’s Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), which met on Friday morning to consider proposals for new connectivity and upgrades from West Bengal.

At the instance of Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, changes have been introduced in the proposed draft Land Acquisition Bill. According to the revised draft, the consent of 80 per cent of the landowners has been made obligatory if it procured for private purposes. Earlier, the proposal was to secure the consent of just 67 per cent of the landowners. But, if the land is acquired for a public cause, the no consent was required.

Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar disclosed this to reporters after his meeting with Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh over the issue. He said, “A detailed discussion was made in the last GoM. Some of them suggested changes and these were discussed and finalised on Monday.”

Pawar, Jairam agree on remaining details in land Bill, draft to go to Cabinet next month

Acquisition of land for private purposes will require the consent of at least 80 per cent of the owners, is the almost-final decision of the group of ministers (GoM) tasked with recommending on this. This will be one of the provisions of the new land Bill. GoM chairman Sharad Pawar and rural development minister Jairam Ramesh met briefly today to finalise key aspects on which some differences had remained. This issue of acquisition for a non-public purpose was one aspect.