The Annual Plan for Himachal Pradesh for 2013-14 was finalised at Rs.

Pune: The regional office of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has disbursed Rs 7,348.39 crore for agriculture and rural development across the state.

The amount — which is 22% higher than the previous year — has been allotted for the financial year 2012-13. M V Ashok, chief general manager of Nabard regional office, said, “Nabard has also decided to converge the watershed development projects with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS).

Agartala: Left-ruled Tripura provided 86.27 days of work under the central government’s flagship rural jobs scheme in fiscal 2012-13, the highest in the country, a minister said here Tuesday.

Quoting the performance report of the union rural development ministry, state Rural Development Minister Jitendra Chaudhury told reporters that Tripura has been providing the highest average employment for the past four years under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Environment must be adopted and elevated as a priority subject on the election agenda and mainstream political process.

Montek lauds proposal to set up separate capital development fund

Kerala’s annual Plan for 2013-14 has been fixed at Rs.17,000 crore, which is 21 per cent higher than that for the year 2012-13.
This was decided at a meeting held by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his team with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and his officials here on Monday.

Centre, state govt bear fiscal burden of `8,340 cr

Although the industrial promotion policies have put a whopping fiscal burden of Rs 8,340 crore on the state and Central governments from 2007 to 2012, the policies have failed to achieve the desired results and the main objectives of such incentives have been defeated. The industrial packages were announced in the state to generate employment but their results are discouraging.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) — a bank set up by 56 Islamic nations — has approved financial assistance worth $617 million (approximately Rs 54.16 billion) for development projects in differen

A Group of Ministers (GoM) has restricted the environment ministry from executing the system of 'inviolate' mining areas, which would have rendered several acres of coal-bearing areas unmineable leading to a shortage of the fuel for power plants.

This is seen as a setback for environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan's efforts to secure her ministry's control on implementing stricter green norms.
The GoM headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar in its recent meeting has restrained the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) from executing its proposed system of inviolate areas saying the six parameters and scoring patterns identified in the draft report on such areas "appeared to be too restrictive and may lead to further curtailment of mining activities".

Warning that environmental degradation could have serious consequences, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today emphasised that economic growth should be based on optimal use of natural resources and d