-Down to Earth MGNREGA budget has declined in real terms over the years, despite claims of “highest ever” allocations In 2004, before India had any legal welfare entitlements for the informal sector, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, was furiously debated in the Parliament and the media. The aim of this legislation was to address the crisis of under employment and unemployment in the rural economy and provide job opportunities through public works...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A leading cancer specialist has called on the government to investigate whether a "tobacco lobby" has influenced arms of the government to initiate action against public health organisations engaged in India's tobacco control efforts. Kailash Sharma, director of academics at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, has cited leaked government and tobacco industry documents to seek a probe into whether a Union home ministry note allegedly depicting tobacco control...

-The Indian Express The Rs 577-crore bill is largely on account of huge consignments of imported/indigenous currency note paper used for Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations as well as consignments which had been previously ordered or were in the process of being shipped to India. New Delhi: The government’s currency paper printing presses have asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for compensation or reimbursement to the tune of Rs 577...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Inequality in India may be at its highest level since 1922, when the country's income tax law was conceived, with 22% income accruing to the top 1% income earners, a new paper released by economists Thomas Piketty and Lucas Chancel showed. "The top 1% of earners captured less than 21% of total income in the late 1930s, before dropping to 6% in early 1980s and rising...

-Scroll.in Cotton acreage has increased by 18%. As September comes around with the promise of the first harvests in a few weeks, data released by the Ministry of Agriculture on Friday indicate that the overall kharif season sowing acreage as of the end of August is 0.5% less than the previous year. This year, farmers across India have moved decisively away from what were once profit-making crops such as oilseeds as well...