Two back-to-back reports that shed light on the status of MGNREGA implementation in the country, have been released recently from the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). A review of MGNREGA implementation in 8 different states of India by a team of experts during the month of May this year reveals that in many of the drought affected districts, the Gram Panchayats have no work to offer under the programme. (Please click...
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NREGS scores a point in 1st report card with highest spend of Rs 56,000 crore in FY16 -Ruchika Chitravanshi
-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: For the first time ever, the Narendra Modi government is bringing out a performance review of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), highlighting the highest ever expenditure of Rs 56,000 crore undertaken in 2015-16 which includes Rs 12,000 crore paid in pending wages this year. The scheme generated 235 crore person days of wage employment, highest in last 5 years. However, it continued to lag in...
More »In Bundelkhand, cattle deaths, hunger signal looming famine -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com With food and water in short supply, farmers in Bundelkhand are leaving cattle to fend for themselves Mahoba (Uttar Pradesh)/New Delhi: Some time in March, Dhan Prasad Anuragi led his pregnant cow Kajal a couple of miles outside his village and abandoned her. The 55-year-old farmer, who lives in Balchaur village of Mahoba district in Uttar Pradesh, says he had no choice. He couldn’t afford to feed the cow and his only hope...
More »Laying the ground
-The Hindu Business Line The Budget’s agriculture focus is welcome, but it could have done better A Budget with a purported focus on agriculture could not have come at a better time. There has been a sharp dip in agriculture output from a trend rate of growth of 4 per cent per annum in the period 2004-05 to 2011-12 to about 1.5 per cent in the next four years, which includes a...
More »Union Budget 2016-17: Mere eyewash or some concrete steps
In the age of social media, various sections of the Indian polity and civil society have reacted publicly in diverse voices, following the presentation of the Union Budget 2016-17 by Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley. An assessment of the Union Budget 2016-17 has been done in the following paragraphs by the Inclusive Media for Change team, based on a number of media reports, Government documents (including the Budget documents), and reports...
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