Rural Development

Demand for work under MGNREGS drops for 10th consecutive month in August

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

SC to hear Punjab's plea for release of rural development funds on Sept 2

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

MGNREGA demand dips 19% as agriculture activities pick up pace

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

Rising focus: Budget push likely for social sector to lift rural demand

Bumper RBI dividend may help govt increase funding

Priority sector tag needed for women-led rural enterprises: World Bank

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

Another bridge collapses in Bihar, none hurt; 2nd such incident in a week

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 ...

Rural demand picking up, likely to hold this year: RBI Governor Das

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

India lives in its villages, rural development priority: Shivraj Chouhan

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

Shivraj Singh Chouhan makes national debut as agriculture minister

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, .

Record-breaking election spending to ignite rural demand: Experts

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

Centre notifies 3-10% hike in MGNREGA wage rates for FY25 ahead of polls

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%

Land record digitisation will improve GDP: Rural development minister

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 ...

Rural development Min signs pact with SBI to facilitate loans for SHGs

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.

Rural Development Ministry signs MoU with JioMart for selling SHG products

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

130,000 CM Awas Yojana houses to be built in rural areas: Ashok Singhal

The state cabinet has decided to conduct a comprehensive socio-economic assessment of Assam's indigenous minorities

Development of small cities key to developed India resolve: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that his guarantee begins from where hope from everyone else ends and asserted that development of smaller cities is at the centre of his resolve to make India a developed country. Addressing the beneficiaries of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra through video conferencing, the prime minister said, "With resolve of a developed India, 'Modi's guarantee vehicle' is reaching every corner of country." In one month, the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra has reached thousands of villages and cities and most of them are small towns, he added. Modi said his government is trying to ease troubles of everyone like a family member. "This is our government that has helped the poor, farmers, small businessmen and various other sections of society. Modi's guarantee begins after hope from everyone else ends," he said. The prime minister said that for a long time after independence, benefits of development were limited to a few big cities, but his government i

NIMHANS to start comprehensive rural mental health programme 'NAMAN'

The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences and the Ashraya Hastha Trust have signed an MoU with multiple stakeholders to implement a comprehensive rural mental health programme named "NAMAN" in two different taluks in India, officials said on Saturday. As of now, the programme is being implemented in Munsiyari taluk of Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand and Belur taluk of Hassan district of Karnataka to cater the mental health needs of the whole population of the two taluks. This will also help them to test the feasibility of rolling out such a programme across the country, they said. The programme plans to follow a lifespan approach, which would cover the entire population from womb to tomb, officials said. According to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), the national launch of the Comprehensive Mental-Health-Action-Programme for Rural Communities would be held on December 18. The proposed "NAMAN" programme will be completed within

TMSEp565: Extension of PMGKAY, Subrata Roy, primary market, PMPVTG Mission

What are the implications of extending PMGKAY? What led to the rise and fall of Sahara's Subrata Roy? How will the IPO market shape up in new Samvat? What is PMPVTG Development Mission? Answers here

Rural housing construction may be driving up MGNREGS costs, says ministry

Rs 35,000-40,000 crore of MGNREGS wages have already gone towards the construction of houses under PMAY-Gramin since it was revamped in November 2016

JKRLM, Kudumbashree sign pact to support micro enterprise development prog

Jammu and Kashmir Rural Livelihood Mission (JKRLM) and Kudumbashree National Resources organisation have entered into an initial pact to support the micro-enterprise development programme in the Union Territory, an official said on Sunday. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed and exchanged through a video conference, in presence of Commissioner Secretary of the Rural Development Department and Panchayati Raj, Mandeep Kaur, on Saturday, the official said. Through this collaboration between JKRLM and Kudumbashree, the MED (micro-enterprise development) initiative is expected to have a significant impact on the lives of rural communities in 11 blocks of nine districts. "The objective of this initiative is to create sustainable livelihood opportunities and promote economic empowerment for rural communities. It will contribute towards poverty reduction, women empowerment and overall socio-economic development of rural women of J&K," the official said. He said the MED ...