-The Times of India Direct transfer of benefits in cash to targeted beneficiaries of food and fertilizer subsidies could save an estimated Rs 60,000 cr and help trim the fiscal deficit which, in turn, may calm stubbornly high food inflation, a study by a government wing has shown. The study showed that policies to rein in food inflation would require winding down of the fiscal deficit, which has gone above 8% of...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Indian villages are powering their own economy, but contrary to conventional belief , it's not government largesses which are the drivers, but their own self-sustaining models. Growth at the bottom of the pyramid is at unprecedented level, and the transformation is stark. The factors driving this transformation are dramatic improvements in rural roads, electrification, cell phones and water supply which are raising wages and increasing job opportunities...

-PTI NAGPUR: A representative of MGNREGA workers has written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, drawing his attention towards the plight of persons employed in Vidarbha under the Centre's flagship rural job programme. In the letter, advocate Vinod Tiwari, a leader of MGNREGA Workers Employment Rights Action Committee, has requested Chavan to look into the plight of workers and issue necessary instructions to officials concerned. The committee has alleged that they...

-The Hindu Disagreements within the government seem to have stalled any attempts at ensuring that the UPA regime’s flagship rural job guarantee scheme pays minimum wages in all States. While the Rural Development Ministry has made a deal with the activists who took the government to court over the matter, strong opposition from the Finance Ministry has reportedly stalled any move to amend the law. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,...

-The Business Standard State governments yet to act on sorting MGNREGA wage delays If our salaries were delayed by two years, two months or even two weeks, how many of us would like it or put up with it? In Araria district in Bihar, workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) complain of not receiving wages for the work done in December 2011. Says Anil Kumar Paswan of Parihari village...