-The Telegraph New Delhi: A high-level panel is set to propose legalising the leasing of farmland in all states, a practice now banned in many states as a perceived legacy of the zamindari system. If it's legalised, people unable or unwilling to till their farmland - or at least the whole of it - can formally lease their land or a part of it for cultivation by others. This will allow millions of...

-The Hindu Rural Development Minister asks Jaitley to release Rs. 5,000 crore more With the demand by States for the release of money under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to clear pending liabilities and dues getting more persistent, Rural Development Minister Birender Singh has written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, urging him to immediately release the additional Rs.5,000 crore as promised. “Since MGNREGS is a demand-driven wage employment programme...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Nearly 18 million villagers registered under the rural job scheme face the prospect of toiling without wages as funds have dried up amid a drought-triggered surge in demand for work. Twelve states have run up "negative balances", meaning workers' payments are due, while the rest have exhausted 95 per cent of the funds released to them so far, according to the rural development ministry, which runs the Mahatma...

-Down to Earth The rural development ministry had recently demanded an additional allocation of Rs 5,000 crore to maintain the momentum of MGNREGA Civil society has supported the demand made by the Union Ministry of Rural Development to the Ministry of Finance to provide Rs 5,000 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (MGNREGS). Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the United Progressive Alliance’s employment generation flagship scheme,...

-The Indian Express Also seek higher allocation for Price Stabilisation Fund in a pre-Budget meet Farmers’ organisations, food and fertiliser companies and agriculture experts on Monday urged finance minister Arun Jaitely to ensure that farmers get  remunerative prices for their produce and make sufficient Budget outlay to create  irrigation facilities in the remaining rain-fed areas. They also sought increase in the outlay for expanding the number of agriculture market yards and higher allocation...