-The Hindu With the U.S. showing a preference for plurilateral agreements over WTO multilateralism, developing nations must defend the global trading system against transnational corporations The 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which also marked the completion of two decades of functioning of the most recent of the multilateral institutions, ended with an agreement among trade ministers of the member countries that may have pushed the organisation to the...
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Man made starvation: UP’s failure to implement the National Food Security Act intensifies survival crisis in drought-affected areas -Jean Drèze
-The Times of India Recent reports from Bundelkhand, or rather from the side of Bundelkhand that lies in Uttar Pradesh, are most alarming. A rapid survey conducted by Swaraj Abhiyan, under the leadership of Yogendra Yadav, found evidence of famine-like conditions developing in the area. To illustrate, 38% of the sample villages reported at least one death due to starvation or malnutrition in the preceding eight months. Among poor families, barely half...
More »Crop insurance or deficiency payments? -Sukhpal Singh
-Livemint.com The most glaring implication of the proposed deficiency payments is that it makes the state give up its responsibility of intervening in markets During the past few months, there has been a highly contested debate on the merits, viability and feasibility of crop insurance in India given the large number of small farmers and the large amount of subsidy involved that is not being effectively used as the coverage of...
More »Machines set to foray into job scheme -Basant Kumar Mohanty
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The national rural employment scheme is set to allow use of labour-displacing machinery in all activities in a move that, social activists say, would defeat the objective of guaranteed 100 days' work to a rural household. The rural development ministry is set to amend its guidelines under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to allow use of machinery such as JCBs, rollers, mechanical mixers and...
More »Government to start electronic transfer of MGNREGA wages from 2016 in Kerala
-PTI NEW DELHI: To prevent leakages in the MGNREGA programme, the government will introduce the system for electronic transfer of wages to the beneficiaries from January 1 next year in Kerala, Lok Sabha was informed today. An additional Rs 2,000 crore would be sought from the Finance Ministry towards ensuring that MNREGA wages are at par with the agriculture wages fixed by some states, Rural Development Minister Birender Singh said. Mahatma Gandhi National...
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