Dumka, April 29: Union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh today frowned upon the state government and demanded greater reliability on the question of funds use after enduring a bumpy ride to a Dumka village, which to his surprise lacked road connectivity. Ramesh, who arrived in Dumka from Calcutta this morning, met self-help groups (SHGs) engaged in tussar silk production at Dhaka village, 30km from the district headquarters, in rebel-hit Shikaripara block.

Bhubaneswar: While the Odisha government has been raising the issue of alleged neglect from the Centre so far as flow of financial assistance under various programmes is concerned, the state at the same time is losing huge funds for irregularities and tardy implementation of the Central projects every year. And during the last five years till 2011, there was a loss of about Rs 191 crore due to curtailment of Central assistance in case of two of the Centrally-sponsored schemes, Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF).

The Housing Census 2011 has revealed that, although Uttarakhand has achieved considerable progress in provision of basic amenities, the number of mobile phone users in rural households is higher than the number of households with drinking water facility.

The chief of Directorate of Census Operations, Uttarakhand, Sneh Lata Agarwal, said that according to the household listing census 2011 on houses, households, amenities and assets for Uttarakhand, the percentage of tap water as source of drinking water has increased from 65.89 per cent in 2001 to 68.22 per cent in 2011.

For a state government that pats itself for having turned Gujarat into a power-surplus region by connecting all the urban and rural areas to the electricity grid, the census data of 2011 — that shows over 11 lakh households without electricity — could come as a shock. The housing data of the census points out that there are over 11 lakh residences that do not use electricity in a state that has a power generation capacity of over 14,000 MW (mega watt) and claims to have 2,000 MW of surplus power.

GUWAHATI, March 4 – The deplorable living conditions in as many as 16 villages on the city outskirts, which are bereft of even the basic amenities of health, education, power, water, communication, etc., stand in sharp contrast to with the oft-repeated government rhetoric of all-round development.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will inaugurate the e-panchayat system, a new initiative of the State Government at a State-level function at Garhakota in Sagar district on March 2. The function will be presided over by Panchayat and Rural Development and Social Justice Minister Gopal Bhargava. Minister of State Dev Singh Sayyam will be the guest of honour. Full-fledged e-panchayat programme will be implemented in the State from the year 2015.

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has expressed satisfaction over the progress in Jharkhand in the field of rural development. The Minister also assured the State of more funds under centrally sponsored schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojya (PMGSY), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNGREGA) and Integrated Action Plan (IAP).