-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In April this year, the Indian Meteorological Department had stuck its neck out and warned the country of a second straight drought this year. It was IMD's bleakest monsoon forecast, the first time it had predicted a rain shortfall of more than 10%. As it turned out, IMD was spot on. As on September 24, the monsoon deficit for the season was 13%, as against the...
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Women in Indian Agriculture -Vivan Sharan and Prachi Arya
-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...
More »Fixing India’s farm failures
-Livemint.com India needs to invest more in developing rural infrastructure The script is familiar. After borrowing heavily for inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, farmers in most parts of India wait for the monsoon. When the rain fails, the farmers’ agony begins. Forced migration to cities in search of manual work, distress sales of land and, in extreme cases, suicides are the way out. This kharif season has a distressingly familiar ring...
More »Centre unveils package to tackle rural distress --Elizabeth Roche, Saurabh Kumar and Utpal Bhaskar
-Livemint.com MGNREGS work days increased to 150 from 100; Rs.5,142 cr rurban project to create 300 smart village clusters New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Wednesday unveiled a package of measures to combat rural distress in the backdrop of a below-average monsoon rainfall. The Union cabinet decided to increase the number of days of employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) from the existing 100...
More »Cabinet approves additional 50 days of work for rural households in drought-hit areas -Vishwa Mohan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: With India's 40% of the area facing drought situation due to deficient Monsoon rainfall, the government on Wednesday approved additional 50 days of employment over and above 100 days per household per year under the MGNREGA in drought affected areas. The move to increase the days of employment from 100 days to 150 days was approved by the Union Cabinet, which met under Prime Minister Narendra...
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