-The Week Vagaries of the weather are not the only reason for Marathwada's agrarian crisis Three widows, two daughters and an overwhelming sense of grief occupy the house of the Palwes in Kekat Jalgaon in Paithan, Aurangabad. The house lost all its men there were three in the past three years. The Palwe widows, Yashoda, Chandrabhaga and Lakshmibai, and Yashoda's two daughters, Suman, 8, and Sarita, 6, live in a hut without...

-The Telegraph Standard model: The state provides a poor woman employment for 58 days a year, under the 100-day job guarantee scheme, at (Bengal's) daily wage rate of Rs 169. Cost: about Rs 20,000 over two years. Alternative: The state provides her an asset - maybe a small grocery - teaches her to run it and monitors her progress while giving a daily stipend for her consumption needs and ensuring basic healthcare...

-The Indian express The I&B Ministry has asked all ministries to furnish success stories from states over the last one year in the flagship schemes implemented by them. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly trashed it, and Union minister Nitin Gadkari slammed it in an internal note, the Rural Development Ministry is learnt to have included the “success stories” of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in the list of...

-The Hindu Amidst the din over the land acquisition bill in Parliament, the farmer’s voice was missing. Everybody has an opinion on farmers these days. Be it politicians, policymakers, editors or economists. In fact, ever since the Parliament reconvened for the Budget session on April 20, the deteriorating condition of farmers has clearly dominated discussions. But even as the issue of agrarian crisis, farmer suicides (especially after Gajendra Singh’s suicide in a...

-The Indian Express Mumbai: In case the size of the house exceeds the set limit, the extra cost will be borne by the beneficiary. Taking the idea of the Centre’s rural employment scheme for creating sustainable rural assets a step further, the Maharashtra government is set to dovetail its rural housing scheme with the National Rural Employment Generation Act (NREGA). The final draft housing policy has also brought rural housing under the...