-The Telegraph About 20 workers would come to the work site every day, get photographed for attendance carrying basketfuls of soil or digging the earth, and then leave without doing any real work New Delhi: This summer, Gaudsahi village under Kapileswarpur gram panchayat in Odisha’s Puri district began renovating the village pond under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. About 20 workers would come to the work site every day, get...

-Newsclick.in Funds squeeze causes 14-17% refusals every year. The rural jobs guarantee scheme has emerged as a lifesaver for millions of Indians as they struggle with relentless unemployment. But official data shows that a very large number of job seekers are being turned away and not given work. In the first six months of the current financial year (April to October 2022) nearly 1.5 crore applicants for work were refused work.  This situation...

-The Hindu 65% of Indians and a third of the global population had higher PM2.5 exposures during the lockdown, largely attributed to biomass cooking activity During COVID-19 lockdowns, many countries observed historic improvements in ambient air quality. Our new study shows that despite the historic improvements in ambient air quality, PM2.5 exposures increased for 65% of Indians and a third of the global population during the lockdown, largely attributed to biomass cooking...

-Down to Earth The employment scheme worked as a lifeline for Rural Indian households during the COVID-19 pandemic Lack of awareness and complexity of application process hold women back from applying for work under the central government’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), according to a recent report. Women beneficiaries struggled to enrol in the scheme, the report suggested. Most of them found enrolling for work a complex and time-consuming process....

-Livemint.com Partnerships with schools in Rural India, panchayats and the private sector can help fulfil our aims India has made progress over the years in addressing its high prevalence of under-nutrition. However, malnutrition remains a significant worry. A large proportion of children are still underweight (32%), stunted (36%), ‘wasted’ (19%) and anaemic (67%) according to National Family Health Survey data released this year. The Green Revolution, National Food Security Mission (2007) and...