-The Hindu Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural development slams government laxity in raising amounts. The Centre must increase the “meagre” pensions provided for poor senior citizens, widows and disabled people, said the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural development in its report submitted to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The panel also slammed the government’s “laxity in raising the amount, pointing out that recommendations to increase the sums have been made for the...

-Down to Earth Monthly investment of 0.07-0.31% of a developing countries’ GDP can provide financial security to 613 million working-age women living in poverty A temporary basic income (TBI) for poor women in developing countries can help millions of them cope with the effects of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, according to United Nations development Programme (UNDP) findings released on March 4, 2021 ahead of International Working Women’s Day.   The large-scale...

When a massive sum of public money is spent on a programme like Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGA)--a demand-driven programme, there is likelihood of financial misappropriations and mismanagement. Thankfully there are checks and balances in the rural employment guarantee legislation to counter such malpractices. It is worth noting that the total allocation under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGA) for 2020-21 was Rs. 1,11,500.00 crore (R.E.), up...

-The Indian Express NITI Aayog’s draft report is well-intentioned. But its failure to address the policy distortions at the root of migrant workers’ issues cannot be overlooked The lockdown-induced suffering of millions of migrants raised awareness regarding their magnitude, vulnerability, and role in the economy. It also led to a flurry of measures by the central and state governments. It is now encouraging that the Niti Aayog, on the request of the...

-Hindustan Times Reacting to the controversy, I&B minister Prakash Javadekar told Hindustan Times, "The mechanism is mostly self-regulatory and only in very serious cases can they complain to the ministry." Javadekar further said the rules were “very clear that a DM does not have the power to issue such a notice”. The Manipur government on Tuesday evening cancelled the notice issued to a talk show on current affairs under the new digital...