-The Indian Express According to officials, this is a big shift in the work demand process—separating demand generating and implementing agencies—and is likely to change the way MGNREGA functions in the state. In what the Jharkhand government says is the first such move by any state, the Rural Development Ministry has started capturing work demand under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) through its social audit unit (SAU), generating nearly...

-Newsclick.in The financial crisis in the diamond industry in Surat has claimed the lives of 16 workers who have died by suicide. Earlier this month, an association president ended his life as well. Darshanbhai Rameshbhai Chaudhary, a diamond polisher by profession, had not had a job for four months. Day after day, he would stand at the diamond polishing hub in the Varacha area of Surat in the hope of being hired...

-Centre for Science and Environment * Niti Aayog vice chairperson Rajiv Kumar releases the report, which provides the real picture of organic farming in India: only 2 per cent of India’s net sown area organically farmed, and a mere 1.3 per cent of farmers registered to do organic farming * Organic and natural farming must be upscaled to make Indian agriculture sustainable, says the report * Needs to be turned into a mass...

-The Hindu Government has begun assessment of damage and will pay compensation: Minister Floods caused by incessant rains in parts of Gujarat have nearly ruined crops in more than eight lakh hectares leaving farmers, who expected bumper yield with the onset of monsoon, devastated. Farmers particularly in the SAUrashtra region have been hugely hit as floods have destroyed their groundnut and cotton crops, the mainstay of agriculture. Pulses and sesame have also been...

-PTI Nearly 1,500 families are heading to their home towns every day Left with no source of income, workers in Surat’s diamond industry are leaving the city in large numbers. After being forced to down shutters in March-end owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, business resumed in the second week of June. However, over 600 workers and their families have tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the Surat Municipal Corporation to order the closure of...