In the last five years, only 60% of MGNREGA work completed y Authorities fail to utilise funds allotted under the scheme. The state government has asked the Centre to increase the wages of the labourers engaged under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme, but the authorities in the state have failed to achieve the target fixed under this programme. Hardly 60 per cent of the work taken under this national flagship scheme have been completed during the last five years.

SHILLONG, Feb 2 – Assam’s world famous tea has propelled the State as the leader in terms of export from the Northeast during 2010-11. Assam exported goods worth Rs 476.59 crore during 2010-11. The State during the period imported goods worth Rs 34.55 crore. Assam was followed by Meghalaya with a total export worth Rs 383.95 crore. Meghalaya’s import stood at Rs 9.45 crore during 2010-11.

The UN High-Level Panel Global Sustainability released its report in Addis Ababa yesterday entitled Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing.

Insurance commissioners in California, New York and Washington State will require that companies disclose how they intend to respond to the risks their businesses and customers face from increasingly severe storms and wildfires, rising sea levels and other consequences of climate change, California’s commissioner said Wednesday.

Up until this point, those states required about a third of larger insurers to turn over the information in a survey; for all others it was voluntary.

The Planning Commission has given its investment clearance for a Rs 115.9 crore project titled ‘Protection of Majuli Island, Assam from flood and erosion, Phase II and III.’

According to an official statement here on Wednesday, the project will be completed by the current fiscal and Plan accounts would be closed by March 31, 2012.

Decontrol of diesel prices, higher excise duty on diesel cars and use of cash transfer system to distribute subsidies directly to the beneficiaries are among the suggestions given by economists for the forthcoming budget for FY12-13. At the pre-budget meeting with the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, economists suggested the primary task of this year’s exercise should be to restore a sense of confidence among the investors both domestic and international in India’s growth story.

Weeks after the Haryana government asked Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to return the land it got from the government to set up a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Gurgaon, the company has now asked the state to pay around Rs 1200 crore in return of the 1,383.68 acres. The total claim put forth by the company contains added interest to the Rs 400 crore it paid to the government for the land along with an annuity to the farmers whose lands were acquired.

The India-EU summit scheduled in New Delhi next week will lay down a ‘strict’ roadmap for conclusion of the ambitious bilateral free trade pact and also strengthen cooperation in security. Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday on the progress made in the FTA negotiations and the areas that still need to be sorted out.