-IdeasforIndia.com The Centre has sought an additional Rs. 25,000 crore as funding for MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). Based on simple calculations using official data, Ashwini Kulkarni contends that the actual fund requirement is in fact much higher. As the pandemic continues to adversely impact rural livelihoods, the government should allocate sufficient funds to MNREGA, in order to honour the work-on-demand guarantee. For over a month, national and local...

-Down to Earth All-year demand, the pressures of cultivating tomato off season and changing climate are making life difficult for Chittoor’s farmers Tomato prices across the country have shot through the roof recently. The government has intervened to lower the prices. But for farmers in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, one of India’s major tomato-growing areas, the government’s action show its bias for urban consumers and its neglect for rural farmers who are...

-Newsclick.in The Narendra Modi government has carried the practice of making low budgetary allocations for MGNREGS to its limit. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or MGNREGS was introduced by the United Progressive Alliance-I government despite opposition from the neo-liberal lobby within it, owing inter alia to the active intervention of the Left, which was supporting that government from outside. The scheme was restrictive from the beginning: it promised a maximum...

-The Hindu However, the job scheme’s balance sheets remain in the red in 24 States, UTs. The Finance Ministry has allocated additional funds of ₹10,000 crore as an interim measure for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme after it ran out of funds allocated in the budget, according to the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). More funds may be forthcoming based on the “assessment of demand,” added the...

-RuralVoice.in Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation of the Rs 30,000-crore Jewar International Airport in Uttar Pradesh (UP) today, he made a subtle outreach to the farmers too in the wake of protests over the three central farm laws. Last week, Modi announced to repeal the contentious laws and on November 24, the Union Cabinet approved his proposal. A bill will be tabled in the winter session of Parliament...