Officials may pocket the wage increases, but the wage level in MGNREGA seems just enough to induce workers to turn up. This year marks the sixth anniversary of the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), India's landmark right-to-work programme. The Act guarantees 100 days of paid employment to every rural household in India (up to 850 million people), regardless of eligibility criteria, and establishes the government's...

-Reuters Global food prices rose in March for a third successive month, driven by gains in grains and vegetable oils, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Thursday, putting food inflation firmly back on the economic agenda. Food prices hit record highs in February 2011 and stoked protests connected to the Arab Spring wave of civil unrest in some north African and middle eastern countries. They then receded but started...

-The Times of India   The court of additional sessions judge Vinay Joshi on Tuesday released 48 farmers on a regular bail after they were arrested in connection with the Maval firing case recently.  The farmers were released on a personal bond of Rs 7,500 with one surety of the like amount each. The court directed the police to give written intimations to the farmers whenever they were called for interrogation. The farmers were...

Seven months after police fired at villagers on the Pune-Mumbai expressway killing three of them, 48 farmers summoned on Friday for questioning for their alleged in violence during the incident were arrested, produced in court and sent to jail. The farmers, who assumed that they were being called for routine questioning, were taken aback after the arrest. They have been booked under IPCs several sections like attempt to murder, rioting,...

The Sariska Tiger reserve remained closed for the second day on Thursday following protests by local farmers residing in the periphery of the reserve. Even resorts around the reserve were closed to further bookings from foreign tourists. Many tourists who were disallowed entry by the protestors remained stuck in their respective hotels throughout the day. Hundreds of the farmers who were protesting against the relocation of their villages started a sit-in...