-The Times of India Jaipur: Among all the major states, Rajasthan has the highest percentage of households (78.4%) into agriculture in rural areas and the second highest MGNREGA card holders in the country. In the report 'Characteristics of Agricultural Households in India' released by the Union government, Rajasthan even scores high on landholding by households. Aimed to study the socio-economic conditions of farmers, the Central government covered 214 villages and surveyed 1,635...

-Hindustan Times A ban on slaughter doesn’t automatically lead to a flourishing cow population, an HT analysis of government data has found, with states like Madhya Pradesh — where cow killing is outlawed — reporting a more than 40% decline in their numbers in rural areas over a decade. Between 2003 and 2013, at least nine states registered a significant decline in the ownership of cows by the rural households, according to...

-The Hindu YADGIR (Karnataka): It looks like Narasappa Kotriki has pulled a rabbit out of his hat. The marginal farmer from Tipadampalli village in Yadgir district, who suffered crop loss, has found rearing rabbits quite profitable. When he fell into bad times, he purchased 100 rabbits (70 male and 30 female) with Rs 1.2 lakh. He spent another Rs. 2.8 lakh for other infrastructure — cages for the rabbits and a shed...

-Business World In the run up to Independence Day, Professor Ashok Gulati wrote a scathing critique of what he has described as “elitist biases in public policy”, that ignore the reality of the masses in rural areas. The reality he describes is that of low rates of growth in agriculture; a sector that majority of Indians still depend on.  He lamented the excessive preponderance of economic policy discourse in the country...

Although MGNREGA has been looked upon with suspicion by the Government, industry as well as the landed farming class for various reasons including inefficiency, leakages, corruption, rise in rural wages, cost escalation etc., a new report reveals that the programme reduced poverty among its participants between 2004-05 and 2011-12 by providing employment. The report entitled Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: A Catalyst for Rural Transformation has estimated that...