Ramesh for granting states discretion over 50% of funds for central schemes. The upcoming budget is likely to give state governments discretionary powers over about 50% of funds under central government schemes, a move that will allow better utilisation of resources. “The current way of functioning is not ideal...State governments would like to spend it on other schemes and they should have the right to decide,” Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh told ET.

The Government has announced the creation of six projects in public-private partnership mode in non-timber forest produce (NTFP), covering around 60 Naxal-affected districts in the country.

The projects, to be executed within six months, will cover Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, according to a Rural Development Ministry release here on Friday.

Non-Congress states have performed better in the MGNREGA corruption index. The Supreme Court has “officially” declared corruption in the 2G case. All licences stand cancelled. The 2G scam has been the most talked about corruption case in India. Land grabs and mining are the other two areas of widespread corporate and public (bureaucrat and politician) corruption.

Calling for increasing the wage rate under MGNREGA, the Minister for Development, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Mohammad Sagar today said that the same is necessary to bail out the State from the menace of unemployment and also to accelerate its implementation which would result accelerated development of rural areas.

The sixth anniversary of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) saw the government promising reforms in the scheme, which has been criticised for delays in wage payments and depleting farm labour.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the scheme could usher in a second green revolution through land development and irrigation facilities. He was, however, silent on demands to extend the scheme to mainstream agricultural activities.

ROURKELA: Armed with the Saranda Action Plan, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday detailed his much-hyped ‘peace offensive’ to curb insurgency along the Odisha-Jharkhand border. On his second visit to the Maoist-infested Saranda forest region in the neighbouring Jharkhand, Ramesh laid the foundation stone for the Integrated Development Centre at the remote Digha village of West Singhbhum district, about 16 km from Odisha border and addressed villagers.

Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh clearly and categorically advocated not to issue any fresh licence for mining in the iron ore rich Saranda area. The Minister also divulged that several such applications had come when he was heading the Forest and Environment Ministry but declined to give his nod on any of them except to the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

The political endeavour under the Saranda Action Plan (SAP) — not just to bring the government closer to the local tribal population but also to give them a stake in the democratic set-up and unfetter the control of the Naxalites who infest the dense forests — seems to have made some progress.

Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh and Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda had launched the Rs.250-crore scheme about two months ago to benefit about a population of about 35,000 at Digha Panchayat, about 40 km from Chotanagra panchayat of Manoharpur block.

JAIPUR: After finding presence of excessive fluoride, nitrate and salinity in drinking water to have caused health problems in Nagaur, the government has decided to use water from the Indira Gandhi canal for supply to the district with the help of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funds.

Union minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has recommended to the department of economic affairs (DEA) a proposal for the Nagaur Lift Water Supply phase II for external finance assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Shimla: The World Bank has sanctioned Rs 74.24 crore for the remaining 37 roads and bridges in different parts of the state. Stating this here yesterday, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said he had received a communication from Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh in this regard. He said the Union Minister took up the case with the Empowered Committee headed by the Secretary (Rural Development), Government of India, and recommended it for funding by the World Bank.