All that was discussed in the House through the day
Government acknowledged that illegal rat-hole coal mining has been noticed over a period of more than 10 years in five reserve forests and three proposed reserve forests of Digboi division in Assam’s Tinsukia district.
According to information from Assam government, coal mining has been going on by the Coal India Ltd in Digboi forest division, Babul Supriyo, minister of state for environment, said in Rajya Sabha.
Schemes to address malnutrition
The ministry of women and child development is implementing several schemes and programmes like anganwadi services, scheme for adolescent girls and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna, to address the problem of malnutrition in the country.
Till July 2019, the government has disbursed nearly Rs 3,463 crores under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna to more than 88 lakh beneficiaries, said Smriti Irani, women and child development minister in the Lok Sabha.
Renovation of water bodies under MGNREGA
In the last five years, 6.39 lakh of work related to renovation of traditional water bodies have been completed under MGNREGA, stated Narendra Singh Tomar, minister of rural development in the Rajya Sabha.
According to the Schedule-I of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, renovation of traditional water bodies including desilting of irrigation tanks and other water bodies and conservation of old step wells or baolis are permissible activities.
Allocation to district rural development agencies (DRDAs)
The government had allocated an amount of Rs 1,284 crore to 657 district rural development agencies (DRDAs) between 2014-15 and 2018-19 shows the statement presented by Tomar, in the Rajya Sabha.
In 2014-15, the government had allocated Rs 305 crore and Rs 244.70 crore in 2018-19.
Sugar mills owe Rs 15,850 crore to the sugarcane farmers
The sugarcane mills owe Rs 15,850 crore to the country’s sugarcane farmers in the last two years (2017-18 to 2018-19), showed the data presented by Danve Raosaheb Dadarao, minister of state for food and public distribution, in the Rajya Sabha.
Decreased sugar prices due to surplus production of sugar, during 2017-18, adversely affected the liquidity of the sugar mills resulting in accumulation of cane price arrears of the farmers, the minister informed.
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