ApnaBundelkhand.com, Lucknow: The national rural job guarantee scheme, despite its immense relevance in a crisis-ridden region like Bundelkhand , has proved irrelevant there. An audit of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), on its fourth anniversary, by an organised band of drought activists in the region indicates implementation failure.

The findings say that even the registered beneficiaries don’t get half the number of stipulated 100 days work. Most beneficiaries got only 30-35 days of work in last one year while there are 4-8 per cent job-card holders who did not get work even for a day.

The region is under protracted drought since a decade as the rains have been failing the region year after year. Just a few years in between saw good rains. The fallout

"There ... Read more »

In the parched lands of Bundelkhand, Central government officials have found a success story in e-governance, which they now want to replicate across the country to strengthen flagship scheme of UPA Government i.e. MNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme).

National Informatics Centre, Jhansi, along with the district administration, has devised a public grievance redressal system where complainants can register their grievances through mobile or landline phones from anywhere in the district 24x7 and get a quick response and disposal of the complaint within the set deadline.

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh’s loss will be Madhya Pradesh’s gain. After much haggling and high level deliberations, the much-hyped 4,000-mw power project in the state, that was to be set up by state-run National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Bargad, in Chitrakoot district of UP, has been cancelled, over excessive claim for power supply made by the state government.

The Centre is now scouting for a new site in Madhya Pradesh, where the plant is likely to come up.

However, when contacted by FE, NTPC chairman RS Sharma denied that the project was off.

"We are holding discussions with the UP government and the project is still on,” Sharma told FE.

But speaking to FE, an official of the power ministry said, talks between the state government and NTPC have fallen through. He sa ... Read more »

ApnaBundelkhand.com, New Delhi: The meeting on Bundelkhand on Saturday saw representatives of the Centre and the UP government taking divergent positions on implementing central programmes in some parts of the region.

The meeting took place in Jhansi and it was called by the Centre to discuss the possibilities of converging centrally sponsored schemes in the part of Bundelkhand that falls in UP.

Bundelkhand is a region that covers parts of south-central UP and north-eastern Madhya Pradesh. The UP government on Saturday stated that Chief Secretary Atul Kumar Gupta was not invited to the meeting.

According to sources, Union Joint Secretary (Rural Development) Amita Sharma referred to a report that pointed out anomalies in implementing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) i ... Read more »

Four months after state government officials decided not to be part of the Bundeklhand Convergence meet called in Orcha, Madhya Pradesh, while demanding a separate meeting in the state, the Centre has called a separate meeting for UP in Jhansi on February 20.

Senior officials of the UP government, including the chief secretary as well as principal secretary, Rural Development are, however, likely to give it a miss again.

ApnaBundelkhand.com, New Delhi:After being opposed tooth and nail by the opposition parties, Rahul Gandhi's Bundelkhand package is now facing reservations from within the government.

A major portion of the Rs 7,000-crore project is aimed at linking the Ken and Betwa rivers to provide irrigation facilities in the backward regions that spread across 14 districts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The plan first drew flak from Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, as well as Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Now, the Union Ministry of Environment and forests is opposing it. Water experts, too, have criticised it.

The river-linking project -- comprising the Daudhan dam and reservoir on Ken river, a 231- km canal, and two power houses -- ... Read more »

ApnaBundelkhand.com, Lucknow/New Delhi:To augment rural incomes and increase horticulture production in Bundelkhand, the Uttar Pradesh government has prepared a blueprint for boosting horticulture activities in the impoverished region.

The government has prepared an elaborate action plan entailing investment of Rs 117 crore in the next fiscal.

The proposed fund would be utilised for enhancing seed production, packing and grading of horticulture crops. The plan comprises 18 schemes with different funding pattern for the private parties.

"We have already sent the plan for approval to the Centre under the National Horticulture Mission (NHM)," State Horticulture and Food Processing Principal Secretary Sri Krishna told Business Standard.