-The Economic Times   Could the Centre freeze the job guarantee scheme during peak agriculture season?  The controversial demand from the agriculture ministry found an echo in the Economic Survey released on Thursday, but was quickly dismissed by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh. While lauding the flagship scheme, the survey listed a few other measures as the way forward. "While the overall performance of MGNREGS has been good, there is scope for improvements...

-WFS   Pamela Philipose meets three tribal women who changed the course of their lives through sheer grit and determination, despite their circumstances Kaushal Markam’s experiences are not unusual. When she managed to get a job card entitling her to work on one of the government-run worksites under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), she was delighted.  Money was always in short supply, and this 35-year-old Baiga tribal woman of Dongaria...

-The Business Standard Use central funds to push agri-reform in states The agriculture ministry’s reported decision to tie the state-wise allocation of funds from the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP) to the states’ progress on agri-marketing reforms seems likely to benefit both farmers and consumers. Yet the gains from releasing central assistance only conditionally could be substantially augmented. If the Centre is serious about reform, it should expand this conditionality to other...

Is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) a poverty buster? Or is it a job destroyer? The answer seems to be both, though the scheme of late, has been bedevilled by corruption and many states have lost their enthusiasm for it, forcing the rural development ministry to revamp the scheme last week (read here about the changes). While the scheme has been attacked for many reasons – bloating rural...

Women farmers suffer gross bias a global meet will look to change this Nearly half of the agricultural work is handled by women in developing countries and India is no exception. Yet, strategies for the development of agriculture are directed primarily at men. Barely five per cent of the extension efforts and resources are targeted at farm women. This failing, predictably, costs a good amount owing to loss of a part...