-The Hindu 96% of annual allocation exhausted. The Centre is on the verge of running out of funds for the crucial Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. More than 96% of the allocated money has already been spent or is needed to pay pending dues, with less than Rs.2,500 crore left to sustain the scheme for the next two months. Fifteen States are already in the red. According to the scheme’s...

-PTI * The author of 'Good Economics for Hard Times' added that the slowdown in the economy will also adversely impact poverty alleviation in the country * Abhijit Banerjee said the demand slowdown in the automobile sector also shows that people are lacking confidence in the economy JAIPUR: Nobel laureate and economist Abhijit Banerjee here on Sunday said the banking sector in the country is "stressed" and the government is in no position...

-Hindustan Times In science, an anomaly in an experiment does not amount to abandoning a certain theory or method involved in the experiment. Experiments are run again, and corrective measures are taken to prevent or minimise anomalies. When it comes to the NRC and CAA, is the Indian State thinking the way a scientist would treat their experiments? How does the Indian State think and reason when it encounters a crisis? Is...

-The Hindu NITI Aayog will develop draft policy, which will be circulated to the Ministries for consultations Urban areas are likely to receive a renewed focus under the government’s ICDS programme, which provides for anganwadis or day-care centres across the country for delivery of nutrition and pre-school education. The government’s think tank, the NITI Aayog, has prepared a draft working paper, which once approved would be circulated to different ministries for consultations. These...

-Economic and Political Weekly The caste (jati)-based practice of untouchability in India, shifting the focus from the victims of this practice, the ex-untouchables (Dalits), to the perpetrators, the non-Dalits is examined by identifying and disaggregating communities that continue to practise untouchability. The second wave of the India Human Development Survey data has been used to generate a socio-economic profile of those who practise untouchability in India, and check the hypothesis that...