LUCKNOW: The growing number of farmer suicides and water scarcity in Bundelkhand region is set to figure prominently in the coming session of national executive meeting of the BJP scheduled to be held on May 24 and May 25. Speaking to TOI, former BJP president Rajnath Singh, said, "Things for the most neglected, but much politicised region continue to be as worrisome as they were during the BSP rule and despite all assurances of changing the fate of Bundelas, Samajwadi Party is proving to be equally indifferent to their plight."

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is UPA's man with the political Midas touch. He needs to lend some of that magic to lift the economy out of its morass. By the Government's own estimate, the economy is expected to grow by a mere 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, a sharp decline from 8.4 per cent in 2010-11. Inflation remains uncomfortably high at over 7 per cent. Investor sentiment has been suffocated in the last one year by policy paralysis and corruption.

LUCKNOW: After three years of functioning without an industrial policy in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government is ready with its new draft Industrial and Service Sector Investment Policy (ISSIP) for 2012. Currently open to consultations with industry stakeholders, the policy, in its new avatar, aims to clock an industrial growth of 10%, create 25 lakh new jobs annually, ensure equal development of all regions of the state and make UP the most sought-after investment destination in the country.

Minister for water resources Pawan Kumar Bansal is reported to have been horrified to have learnt of the macabre incident in which a mother, Qadeeran, and her youngest son, Rasheed, were killed by her two elder sons, Nafees and Anees, over a water dispute in Banda district of Bundelkhand.

Plunging groundwater levels would have only served to accelerate the situation but Mr Bansal is reported to have confided to close aides that even he was shocked that a water dispute would result in “matricide and fratricide”.

LUCKNOW: The Japan International Cooperation Agency has expressed concerns over the implementation of its Rs 500-crore UP Participatory Forest Management and Poverty Alleviation Project (ID-P 194), following alleged irregularities in Bundelkhand. The agency also requested the UP government to conduct a high-level probe into the matter.

The best developed district in Uttar Pradesh is six times more so than the worst, state government figures indicate. Districts in western UP, closest to Delhi, far outpace those in other regions, not just those in Bundelkhand, according to the department’s Niyojan Atlas, which considers 36 indicators. The atlas is published every year but it is so delayed that the latest available edition is that for 2008. It gives Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) a composite development index of 431.44, against which even western UP neighbours like Ghaziabad (170.52) and Meerut (147.72) pale in comparison.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday minced no words in accusing Mayawati government of misusing funds meant for the National Rural Health Mission.

BANDA/CHITRAKOOT: Sunita's hands tremble as she picks up a heavy hammer to break a stone boulder in Narhari village, about 40 km from main Banda city. It has been more than three hours since the 18-yearold has been doing what her father Jagat Pal never wanted. "But we do not have any option. She needs to help me in breaking these stones. The lorry may come anytime,'' Pal says.

Blaming Congress and its general secretary Rahul Gandhi for the poverty and backwardness prevailing in the Bundelkhand, Bahujan Samaj Party president and Chief Minister Mayawati said that had the Centre accepted her government's proposal for special package, the face of this rugged region would have been different.

JHANSI: Blaming the past governments for the current plight of Bundelkhand region, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged state minister and senior BSP leader Nassemuddin Siddiqui had given the tractors to his sons, which were meant for farmers and sent by the Centre. Addressing a public meeting at Lalitpur, Rahul Gandhi said that when he visited Bundelkhand two years ago, he saw the plight of the people here.