-Down to Earth MGNREGA budget has declined in real terms over the years, despite claims of “highest ever” allocations In 2004, before India had any legal welfare entitlements for the informal sector, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, was furiously debated in the Parliament and the media. The aim of this legislation was to address the crisis of under employment and unemployment in the rural economy and provide job opportunities through public works...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Hundreds of journalists, activists and Opposition leaders converged at the Press Club of India and other venues in Lutyens' Delhi to speak out against the fear that has set in after senior journalist Gauri Lankesh's murder. Journalists condemned the hate campaign by Twitter trolls followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called for introspection within news agencies on the role the media play as the fourth pillar of...

-The Asian Age The AG assured the court that the law would be implemented across the country. New Delhi: Even as the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre, all states and Union Territories to implement provisions of the Food Security Act, attorney general K.K. Venugopal cautioned the court about issuing directions by expanding the scope of the petition relating to drought relief. A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and N.V. Ramana...

-NDTV A bench, headed by Justice M B Lokur, directed the Centre to set up state food commissions, as mandated under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, even in the states not hit by drought. New Delhi: Judges cannot run a government and ask it to do "miracles", Attorney General K K Venugopal today told the Supreme Court while opposing fresh pleas being made by NGO 'Swaraj Abhiyan' in a...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court directive should lead to better access under the Food Security Act The National Food Security Act, 2013, has met with prolonged political indifference, but there is some hope now since the Centre has been asked by the Supreme Court to ensure that States implement key aspects of the progressive law. The directives in the Swaraj Abhiyan case underscore the depressing reality that several State governments have not...