-Live Mint Mint examines why millions of women are missing from farms, factories, colleges, and offices in India, which has one of the lowest ratios of working women in the world Mumbai: Every monsoon, minivans ferrying women labourers can be seen making their way from the small sleepy town of Wardha to Waifad village, 18 kilometres away. Urban workers from Wardha have come to occupy an integral part of Waifad's farm...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The UPA has hiked wages for national job scheme workers by 4-18 per cent in what appears to be a "parting gift" before the elections, but failed to match "arbitrary" revisions in minimum wages for agricultural labourers in 12 states, including Bengal. According to the new wage rates under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act, an MGNREGA labourer in Haryana will get Rs 236 a day, the...

-The Hindu     "We have at last found a solution to labour shortage. I am hopeful of sustainable farming" Chennai: Not long ago, farmers of Kavanthandalam, a village about 10 km from Uthiramerur of Kancheepuram district and situated along Cheyyar river, were extremely worried about the future of farming in their area. Labour shortage was their main problem. Though this feature was nothing unique, the problem got compounded, given the proximity of the village...

-Economic and Political Weekly The various activities being promoted under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme such as water harvesting and soil conservations could have high positive results on environment security and biodiversity and environment conservation. While this article appreciates the integration of biodiversity conservation into the MGNREGS, it points out the importance of preparing panchayat-level biodiversity registers, supporting individual and institutional efforts in biodiversity conservation and the formulation of...

-The Indian Express The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) promises 100 days of work to every rural household annually. The government on Friday increased the number of workdays under its flagship rural jobs guarantee scheme for tribal households to 150, but official data show that no more than 11 per cent of Scheduled Tribe households have been able to complete even the promised 100 days of annual employment...