-DNA The report said it will ease the exit of those farmers who find farming unattractive or non-viable and economically strengthen those farmers who want to stay and raise the scale of operational holdings. Opening farmland for 'liberalised leasing' through government-run 'Land Banks' can be a 'win-win reform' in the Indian farm sector, stated the latest report of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog taskforce on agricultural development. The report...

-PTI A parliamentary panel today expressed dissatisfaction over lack of grievance redressal mechanism in a number of states for MGNREGA and pitched for strong monitoring for successful implementation of the flagship rural job scheme. The Standing Committee on Rural Development, chaired by AIADMK MP P Venugopal, in its eighteenth report said, "Slow progress on appointment of ombudsmen speaks volumes about functioning of the department of rural development on the issue. The Committee,...

-The Hindu The funds collected can be used only for the designated purpose and cannot be diverted More than Rs. 1.4 lakh crore of funds collected by the government under various cesses for purposes as varied as higher education, road development and the welfare of construction workers are lying unutilised, shows an analysis by The Hindu of a Comptroller and Auditor-General report on government finances and answers by Ministers in the Lok...

-The Hindu The research lab claims their idea will be more effective that Delhi's proposed odd-even licence-plate policing. A mid-week work-from-home, rather than licence-plate policing, may be the solution to Delhi’s pollution crisis, suggests the policy arm of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, India’s largest chain of publicly-funded research labs. The Delhi government's plan to impose restrictions on private car usage, to check air pollution, may be harder to implement and...

-GovernanceNow.com A survey in drought-hit Bundelkhand paints a startling picture of farmers in distress Bundelkhand, the land of famous warriors Alha and Udal, is entrapped in an unending battle. But unlike 1857, today there is no ‘harbola’ to tell the stories of sacrifices. Then, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan wrote, “Bundele harbolon ke munh hamne suni kahani thi, khoob ladi mardani voh to Jhansi wali rani thi (from the mouths of storytellers of...