-The Indian Express Extended dry spell hits rabi plantings on top of failed kharif crop Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh, an agricultural success story of the past decade, is bracing itself for a rough time this year, with deficient rains resulting in the failure of the kharif crop and also putting a question market over sowing in the ongoing rabi season. The state, in recent times, had emerged as the country’s second largest contributor of...

-Hindustan Times Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government will prepare a legal framework for leasing land for agriculture that would not put the land owner at a disadvantage but will provide rights to the lease holder, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Tuesday. Chouhan was addressing the media at the conclusion of an exercise launched by the state government to assess the ground situation against the backdrop of the farming crisis. He said that...

-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: A NITI Aayog sub-group has suggested increasing the flexi-fund component of centrally-sponsored schemes (CSS) to 25 per cent from the current 10. This would give more flexibility to States to spend on development and social welfare schemes, said Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Convenor of the NITI Aayog’s sub-group of Chief Ministers on ‘Rationalisation of Centrally-sponsored Schemes’, after submitting the report to Prime...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Children attend schools in larger numbers on days their midday meal menu includes eggs, a central study has found in Bengal and Telangana. The findings of the 7th Joint Review Mission on the midday meal scheme have bolstered the case for the inclusion of eggs - a nutritious and difficult-to-adulterate option - in the programme across the states. In July last year, the Union human resource development ministry had...

-Hindustan Times The Centre has decided to slash its share of funds in about 18 social sector schemes including flagship education programme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in a cutback that has been criticised by states. The central government and states would contribute equally for programmes such as SSA, Rashtriya Uchchtar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), a departure from the previous 65%-35% formula. Sources said the department of economic affairs...