-NewsYaps.com In 2005, the Parliament of India enacted a landmark legislation known as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The aim of this law, renamed ‘Mahatma Gandhi NREGA' in 2009, was to create a legally enforceable guarantee of employment for any adult from rural India willing to do casual manual labour on local public works at a statutory minimum wage. Public works programmes have long been implemented in India...

-Down to Earth Demand farm income commission; urge political parties to make it an election issue A number of farmers' organisations got together on Thursday to demand a minimum living income equivalent to that of agricultural scientists for all farm households in the country and asked political parties to make it a part of their poll manifesto. Citing NSSO findings, they said the average monthly income of farm households in the country...

-Frontline The tussle within some Central government Ministries over proposed cuts in the budget for rural development schemes has affected a promise made to senior citizens. THEIR wizened faces said it all. Though there was disappointment, there was also a glimmer of hope that their trek to the national capital would not go in vain. For almost a month, senior citizens, most of them poor, had been pouring into New Delhi from...

-The New Indian Express   Most people would have been shocked to read the year-end report that India has been ranked 63rd, much below countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, on the Global Hunger Index (GHI), a yardstick used by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to comprehensively measure global hunger. The index is calculated as an average of three indices-undernourishment, underweight children and low child mortality rate-and is measured on a...

-The Hindu Business Line     Whatever the criticisms against the UPA government may be, its effort to provide employment to large sections of the population under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act must be lauded. Yet, after the initial success of the scheme, the enthusiasm of the Central government itself seems to have diminished in its second term in power. How palpable is the shift to lower gear? Representatives of the UPA...