-The New Indian Express Having a uniform rate will also be convenient in terms of calculations and indexation in one go for the entire country rather than different States/UTs bringing in their own dynamics, the report said NEW DELHI:  A parliamentary standing committee has flagged the disparity in wage rates in various states under the rural employment scheme MGNREGS, calling it baffling and unjustified. While in states like Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand, the...

-IndiaSpend.com/ Scroll.in In the 2022 Budget, the Centre proposed to earmark Rs 1-lakh crore in interest-free loans for states, some of which will be used for developing infrastructure. In May 2021, when Cyclone Yaas hit the eastern coast of India, a hospital in Bihar’s capital Patna was inundated in the floods and patients had nowhere to go. In September 2021, parts of the national capital, Delhi, were waterlogged because of heavy rains...

-TheWire.in BJP has now realised that Hindutva and identity politics by themselves are not enough to win. In post-Mandal India, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempt to build electoral alliances tying upper castes and non-dominant OBCs is not new. This is a strategy the party used in the mid-1990s across North India to resist the consolidation of pro-Mandal parties and prevent the formation of large coalitions of “backwards”. Mid-1990s onwards, the BJP distributed...

-Down to Earth The state is considering rolling out its own insurance programme for farmers Maharashtra may follow several other big states and opt out Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the Narendra Modi government’s much-vaunted crop insurance scheme. India’s second-most populous state may replace the central scheme with its own — a step already adopted by states like West Bengal. Farmer groups have already flagged irregularities in PMFBY at a February 1,...

In the month of January this year, more than 100 homeless persons died (please click here and here to access) in Delhi-NCR due to cold wave like conditions. Although a Delhi-based non-government organisation (NGO) Centre for Holistic Development (CHD) made that claim, and therefore asked the Chief Minister of Delhi to make proper arrangements for the homeless poor during winters, the officials of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB)...