-The Economic Times The rural development ministry is preparing for a big push to its flagship employment generation programme as drought has depressed demand for farm labour. The ministry has written to state governments asking them to identify development projects under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) to ensure there's enough work available for those in need.  "We expect demand for work and wages to go up in the coming...

-Live Mint In urban India, the ratio of the top and bottom 10% of the economic group increased to 10.9% from 10.1% Economic growth is increasing the income and consumption levels of the average Indian faster than before, but income disparity is getting sharper, especially in the country’s villages, which may require a greater effort aimed at creating jobs in the non-farm sector in rural areas. The increase in inequality is evident from...

-The Indian Express From Nariman Point to Tirupur, from broking firms to ancillary industries — as a two-part series in this newspaper has illustrated — the economy is seeing a steady contraction in employment opportunities. The economic and social cost is sobering but the UPA should also worry about the political implications. Lakhs of jobs are being lost when India is heading for a general election that could be decided primarily...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today banned tourism in the core areas of India’s tiger reserves till further orders, fuelling fears among tour operators and some conservationists that people would lose the chance to watch the animals in the wild, local economies would bleed and poaching would increase. The court, responding to a petition by a non-government environment organisation, acknowledged concerns expressed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority that tourism may be...

-Live Mint There is no dearth of advisors for a government considered to be in the grip of a policy paralysis and whose prime minister is dubbed an “underachiever”. In this season of India-bashing, US President Barack Obama spared some time from his election campaign and offered some pearly words of wisdom on the Indian economy. This came at a time when in his own backyard, thousands of people marched in...