-The Deccan Chronicle Seven years after unveiling the rural job guarantee scheme, the Centre on Tuesday announced a major extension of scope of works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in a bid to revive demand for jobs, which witnessed over 20 per cent dip in the last financial year. Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday tabled the “MNREGA 2.0 — the second generation reforms”...

-Down to Earth Biometric-based unique identity or Aadhaar is leading to huge problems for people working for the rural employment guarantee scheme and for others receiving welfare benefits. Not only have enrolments been done shoddily but the experience of the pilot projects shows that it is almost impossible to authenticate the work-hardened fingerprints of the poor, find Latha Jishnu and Jyotika Sood. Besides, there is the overwhelming issue of deficient online...

-The Hindu The Centre will include a number of additional activities in the work schedule of its flagship programme MGNREGS, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said here on Saturday. “On Tuesday [May 8], I will announce a major expansion of the activities taken up by MGNREGS on the floor of the House,” Mr. Ramesh told journalists. He said inclusion of new activities would boost the performance of the scheme. An expert...

Population has started to swell in Delhi's suburbs. Gurgaon and Noida (Gautam Buddha Nagar) are among the top five places in India that recorded the highest decadal growth rate in population. While Gurgaon recorded a 74% increase in population between 2001 and 2011, Noida saw a rise by almost 52%. India saw a 17.6% increase in population over the decade. Kurung Kumey - a small district in Arunachal Pradesh bordering China -...

The National Advisory Council has asked the Centre to formulate a national policy to stem the declining sex ratio at birth that it believed was “located at the complex interface of the status of women in Indian society, patriarchal social mores and prejudice, spread and misuse of medical technology and the changing aspirations of urban and rural society”. The council’s draft recommendations — prepared by members Farah Naqvi and A.K. Shiva...