-Press release by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 31st January, 2020 Rural distress has risen to alarming levels. As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of 2017-18, rural unemployment stands at 8 percent (statement 30 in Section 3.7, PLFS). In conjunction with skyrocketing food inflation levels, this is a serious concern. The situation is much worse for the landless depending on casual manual labour who constitute more than half the rural...
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Civil society presses for an increase in budgetary allocation for MGNREGA in FY 2020-21
-Press release by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 27 January, 2020 As the Indian economy continues to languish, the government ignores the advice given by several noted economists, including that of the most recent Nobel winner Abhijit Banerjee, to improve the functioning of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The economy is facing blow after blow. India has the highest rates of unemployment in the past 45 years and food inflation...
More »Is MGNREGS the answer to the rural slowdown? -Sneha Alexander & Nikita Kwatra
-Livemint.com MGNREGS could alleviate rural distress but, in its current form, its overall impact on the rural economy is limited in scope With rural distress deepening across India and private consumption growing anaemically, calls for ramping up the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), are growing louder ahead of the upcoming budget. Proponents of MGNREGS believe that it may be the only ammunition in the government’s arsenal to fight rural...
More »Why food inflation may turn sticky -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com * Despite the slowdown in rural demand, the spike in food prices is not showing any signs of cooling. Here’s why * This is the best time for the budget to address the volatility in food prices. Reliable market intelligence on crop production and timely advisories to farmers can help stabilize prices New Delhi: For more than five years now, the Indian countryside has only heard stories of anguish. Consecutive years of...
More »The puzzle of inflation going up despite low demand in India -Himanshu
-Livemint.com The government’s inordinately large food stockpiles have resulted in an artificial market scarcity On 7 January, the ministry of statistics released India’s advance estimates of national income for 2019-20, pegging the economy’s growth rate this financial year at 5%. Based on data available for the first two quarters, this seems an overestimate. Most indicators suggest that actual growth may be lower than 5%. This is bad news, especially since there is...
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