-Frontline.in In the latest Global Hunger Index, India is bracketed in the category of countries where hunger levels are “serious”. But the policy responses on hunger and malnutrition in the country have been inadequate and faulty. In the second week of October, a few media reports in India highlighted significant data pertaining to global hunger. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) had released its Global Hunger Index (GHI), rating 118...

-TheWire.in The Centre’s off-record instructions through WhatsApp and a squeeze on funds made the rural work programme crash after a roaring first half of the year. This is second of a two-part series. Read part one here. The WhatsApp messages from the central rural development ministry to states had a chilling effect on the work given under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) after the roaring demand growth in the...

-Business Standard Read Part I of the series: The Centre used an off-the-record WhatsApp group to instruct states to check spending and work for rural poor under MNREGA New Delhi: Noticing a steep rise in demand for work under MNREGA in the drought year, the rural development ministry used an off-record WhatsApp chat group and told states to desist from generating more work for the poor under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural...

-The Hindu Business Line The electronic-National Agriculture Market is a sound idea but implementation is at a nascent stage Farmers in Telangana staged a protest last Monday, demanding discontinuation of the electronic-national agriculture market (e-NAM) platform and restoration of the previous platform provided by NCDEX e-Markets. It followed the failure of the software to accommodate the heavy volumes of the peak season arrivals, beginning with maize and soyabean. The Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC)...

-The Indian Express The flagship rural jobs programme has shown improved performance after initial neglect by the Modi government. New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government may spend close to Rs 60,000 crore on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the current fiscal, a record for the programme that was a baby of the previous United Progressive Alliance regime. The Union Budget had allocated Rs 38,500 crore towards MGNREGA for...