The Planning Commission today gave a go-ahead to Uttar Pradesh for its annual Plan outlay of Rs 35,000 crore for 2008-09, representing an increase of about 40 per cent over the allocation during the previous fiscal The Planning Commission has also meeting between the Planning Commission member, Mr B.K. Chaturvedi, and the State Chief Secretary, Mr A.K. Gupta. The Planning Commission has also agreed to consider the State's demand for additional Central assistanceof Rs 5,000 crore, Mr Guptsfsaid, adding no final decision has yet been taken.

India got a pat from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for its pathbreaking efforts in providing social-security coverage through the flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Bill.

The decision of the rural development ministry to keep tabs over the performance of states regarding the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is giving sleepless nights to the development officers in Uttarakhand. According to a recent report, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Gujarat will undergo

In the district of Sirsa in Haryana, wage rates have increased appreciably after the nregs started being implemented there. Being a cotton-producing district, the daily wage for cotton-picking workers was around Rs85 when the scheme was launched. While the scheme offered Rs95, workers shifted to projects run under the scheme.

The national rural employment guarantee scheme completes two years and moves to cover all the districts in the country. Has it been worth it?

The minister for health and family welfare, Mr Sambhani Chandrasekhar, on Monday said the state stood first in the country in executing National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Addressing a meeting, Mr Chandrasekhar said that Khammam district achi-eved first place in the state in implementing the scheme in a successful way and about Rs 163 crore was spent for the purpose. He said that 1.5 lakh labourers have been getting wages under NREGS for the last 45 days.

Minister for agriculture, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, said the host of welfare schemes being implemented by the state government had given party leaders and even government officials boldness to face people in the month-long Praja Padam programme.

The Raj Bhavan in Calcutta could plunge into perpetual darkness if governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi chooses to express his empathy not just with the denizens of the state capital but also with the vast rural populace of Bengal. For, figures available with the Centre reveal that Bengal has among the lowest rates of rural household electrification in India despite being a net "exporter' of power in recent years.

The Rs 50,000-cr scheme will be for skilled rural workers. Even as the UPA government's flagship programme, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), is yet to deliver the desired results, the rural development ministry is giving shape to another ambitious scheme to generate jobs. The target this time is to provide employment to 50 million below poverty line (BPL) families over the next seven years.

More than 60 years after Independence the fate of the poor and rural people in India does not seem to be changing despite several measures initiated by governments in the states and the Centre. Lack of accurate data is one of the reasons listed for this.