The agrarian crisis is far from over. Amidst news of farmers' suicide reported from parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, an official document released in December by the National Sample Survey Organisation states that nearly 52% of India's agricultural households were indebted during July, 2012 - June, 2013. The average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household in India was Rs. 47000 (see link below). Based on a survey of...
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Scheming against the poor -TK Rajalakshmi
-Frontline The Left and other national parties protest against the NDA government's attempts to dilute the MGNREGS by limiting its budget and reducing its reach. IN a rare show of solidarity, representatives of several political parties took issue with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on its controversial proposal to restructure the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The opposition, which was initially confined to the...
More »Rural jobs may soon lose labour intensive label -Ruhi Tewari
-The Indian Express In a move that could alter the labour-intensive nature of the rural job guarantee scheme, the Finance Ministry has suggested changing the wage-material ratio from the current 60:40 - as provided under the Act - to an equal 50:50. This comes amid widespread criticism from several quarters of previous Rural Development minister Nitin Gadkari's proposal to change the labour-material ratio to 51:49. According to officials in the Rural Development Ministry,...
More »Black money: ₹4,500 cr lying in bank accounts abroad, says SIT
-The Hindu Business Line Wants PAN used in payments over ₹1 lakh, cap on amount of cash a person can keep Income Tax authorities have traced about ₹4,500 crore in undisclosed money in bank accounts overseas, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the matter said in its second report to the Supreme Court. The report, released on Friday, said investigations are pending in 33 cases involving an amount of ₹14,957.95 crore, and that...
More »Jharkhand CM also opposes changes to MNREGA -Anumeha Yadav
-The Hindu Hemant Soren's letter to the PM in this regard comes a week after his Tripura counterpart held a rally in New Delhi against funds cuts in the scheme. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with an appeal "to ensure that the provisions of MNREGA are not diluted in any manner." Mr. Soren's letter to the PM comes a week after Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar...
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