Rural Development

President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday said she has broken the protocol and undertaken several tours of Odisha and her native Mayurbhanj district in order to speed up development work. Murmu, on the last day of her five-day visit to the state, was addressing a gathering here after laying the foundation for three new railway lines, besides a tribal research and development centre, Dandbose airport and sub-divisional hospital at Rairangpur. "Generally, there is no provision of visiting own state and district as the President. However, I broke the protocol and came down here frequently because of the difficulties faced by the people of this area. Keeping in view the requirements of this area, I do whatever is possible on my part," Murmu said. Murmu said she had met the incumbent Railway Minister several times when she was the governor of Jharkhand to press for the development of railways in tribal areas. "When I was the transport minister of Odisha in 2000, I had requested the incumbent

The Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj is undertaking several measures, including the use of community radio, to spread awareness against the "Sarpanch Pati" system, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The "Sarpanch Pati" system is a practice in which the husband of an elected woman sarpanch wields the actual power. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj SP Singh Baghel said various modes of information, education and communication activities, media engagement, conferences, seminars, training programmes, screening of public service awareness films, broadcasting of programmes through community radio were being done to spread awareness on issues such as the "Sarpanch Pati" system. Programmes such as "Jan Jan Tak Jankari" are being broadcast through 15 community radio stations in Bihar, Karnataka and Maharashtra on a pilot basis to create awareness about the practice of proxy-sarpanch, Baghel said. The ministry i

The Haryana government is actively working on the efforts to provide all the basic amenities in the colonies established under the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojana (MGGBY), Minister Krishan Lal Panwar said in the State Assembly on Tuesday. Regarding the provision of basic amenities such as electricity, water, roads, lanes, and drains in colonies established under the scheme, Panwar assured that the state government is actively working on these efforts. Development and Panchayat Minister Panwar said under this scheme, approximately 4,573 colonies have been established, with basic facilities provided in around 2,250 colonies where settlements have begun. In the past 10 years, a budget of about Rs 320.5 crore has been allocated for this initiative. This includes Rs 94.5 crore for the Electricity Department and Rs 66 crore for the Public Health Engineering Department to ensure the provision of essential services, he said. While responding to a calling attention notice of INLD member

For the 12th consecutive month, work demand under the MGNREGS fell in October, reflecting a shift in the rural economy toward more lucrative job opportunities

The scheme undoubtedly remains a robust welfare tool to support incomes and livelihood in rural areas. However, it should be the last option for people seeking employment

How to improve land and capture its value is central to growth and development policy even in the 21st century

Nearly 19 million individuals requested work under MGNREGS, showing a 17 per cent decrease compared to the same period last year

The Supreme Court on Friday said it will hear on September 2 an interim plea of the AAP-led Punjab government seeking release of over Rs 1,000 crore urgently from the Centre on account of alleged dues pertaining to the Rural Development Fund. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was told by lawyer Shadan Farasat, appearing for the state government, that the apex court website does not show the matter listed in the list of business of September 2. The lawyer said he was assured that the matter will be listed on that day. We will see, the CJI said, adding the matter will be taken up. The state government has filed an interlocutory application (IA), in a pending lawsuit against the Centre, and has sought urgent release of over Rs 1,000 crore as an interim measure. The Bhagwant Mann government, in 2023, had moved the top court alleging non-release of the Rural Development Fund (RDF) and withholding a portion of the market fee by t

July and August are usually considered lean months for the scheme in terms of demand for work as agricultural activities are in full swing in the rural parts of the country

Bumper RBI dividend may help govt increase funding

Recommends institutional reforms to support growth and contribution of women's entrepreneurship

A small bridge collapsed in Siwan district on Saturday in the second incident of its kind in Bihar in less than a week, officials said. The bridge was erected over a canal, connecting the villages of Daraunda and Maharajganj blocks, and it caved in at around 5 am, said District Magistrate Mukul Kumar Gupta. "Nobody was injured in the incident. It was a very old structure and apparently, pillars caved in when water was released through the canal. We are trying to ensure that until it is restored, residents of affected villages face as little inconvenience as possible," the DM told PTI. Daraunda BDO Surya Pratap Singh said, "Locals claim the bridge was built way back in 1991 with contributions from the then Maharajganj MLA Uma Shankar Singh". Anil Kumar, the Sub Divisional Magistrate of Maharajganj, confirmed that the "the 20 feet long brick structure" had been built through MLA's local area development fund and added, "based on the investigation report further action will be ...

RBI guv says premature to change stance, FY24 CAD may be less than 1%

India lives in its villages and rural development remains a priority for the Narendra Modi led government, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Tuesday as he took charge of the Rural Development ministry. The 'Lakhpati Didi' scheme aimed at enabling women to earn Rs 1 lakh per annum is among the key focuses of the government, Chouhan, who has been chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for four terms, said. "The prime minister has another dream we want to fulfil, that is the dream to have 'Lakhpati Didis'... women empowerment is a mission of our government," the veteran BJP leader said. "Many programmes are being implemented and work is being done through self help groups. There are one crore 'Lakhpati Didis'... we have to take this number to three crore," he said. Referring to the Union cabinet's decision to construct three crore more houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, he told reporters, "India lives in its villages. Rural development is a priority of our prime minister. Many program

In a significant political move, senior BJP leader and four-time former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan has made his national debut as the Union Agriculture and Rural Development Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new Cabinet. The 65-year-old leader, popularly known as "mama" (maternal uncle) and "paon-paon wale bhaiya" (foot soldier), took oath as part of the Prime Minister's Council of Ministers on Sunday, marking a significant milestone in his over three-decade-long political career. With his extensive experience in governance and deep connect with the rural populace, Chouhan's appointment as the Union Agriculture Minister is expected to bring fresh impetus to the government's efforts in addressing the challenges faced by the agriculture sector and the farming community. Chouhan, who assiduously cultivated a 'son of the soil' image and identified himself with the socio-economic concerns of farmers, villagers, women, and children in Madhya Pradesh, .

Even as the 2024 Lok Sabha polls have started to unfold, anticipation remained high not only in the political landscape but also about the ripple effects on the economy, particularly in rural India, as experts described the elections as the most expensive one ever fought in the country's history. With an expenditure of a staggering Rs 1.35 lakh crore estimated by N Bhaskara Rao, who chairs the Centre for Media Studies and has been tracking election spending for 35 years, significant parts of the amount spent during the polls will reach the pockets of India's rural population boosting sales, business houses feel. According to a study, about 35 per cent of election expenditure in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in India was made on campaigns and publicity. The second highest expenditure head was payments to voters via various means hiring workers, purchasing campaign materials, freebies and direct cash transfers in some cases. Industry leaders expect these will have a positive impact on

Wage rates in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are set to experience the lowest increase at 3% for FY25 compared to FY24, while Goa will see the highest increase at 10.6%

Digitisation of land records and registration is expected to improve the GDP of the country by about 1.5 per cent, Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh said on Thursday. He made the remarks at the inauguration of the two-day Bhumi Samvaad on 'Sharing of Best Practices in Land Management Modernization'. Addressing officers from across the country at the conference, Singh emphasized that saturation of the digitisation process of land records and registration will help mitigate the huge pendency of court cases involving land disputes. It will also help in improving the ranking of the country in terms of ease of doing business", he said. "Digitisation of land records and registration is expected to improve the GDP of the country by about 1.5 per cent," he said. Stressing on the importance of emerging technologies such as blockchain and CORS in the modernisation process of land management, he said this will go a long way in achieving the objectives of the government under ...

The Rural Development Ministry and State Bank of India on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate enterprise financing for rural self-help groups (SHG), an official statement said. The MoU was signed by Additional Secretary Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Charanjit Singh and Chief General Manager, State Bank of India, Corporate office Mumbai, Shantanu Pendsey. State Bank of India introduced a specialised financial product Svyam Siddha, exclusively tailored for SHG women entrepreneurs seeking loans up to Rs 5 lakhs. This initiative is designed to alleviate the challenges associated with extensive documentation requirements for bank loan applications and reduce the turnaround time (TAT). It does away with the requirement of burdensome documents like quotations and detailed project reports (DPRs), allowing an easy application process where a simple loan application with KYC details can be submitted at local SBI bank branches.

The Ministry of Rural Development on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding with Reliance Retail's JioMart to enhance market access for products of self-help groups under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission. Speaking at the MoU signing event, Additional Secretary of Rural Livelihoods Charanjit Singh said this collaboration will enable self-help groups (SHGs) to be on-boarded as sellers on the e-commerce platform and take their products to a larger consumer base. Singh said that this partnership will add to efforts of the ministry towards income enhancement of SHG Didis. The mission is working to increase the income of SHGs on a sustainable basis. As part of the partnership between the ministry and JioMart, all SHG sellers associated with DAY-NRLM will also get to avail benefits and guidance in growing their businesses online. JioMart will also support them in navigating and operating their accounts on the marketplace and will jointly participate i