-The Tribune The UPA's flagship programme MGNREGS changed the employment scene for the rural poor. While 100-day job guarantee was a novel step, loopholes and poor implementation rendered it a liability. The Modi govt hopes to gradually reinvent the scheme, if not entirely scrap it. Midway through the Congress-led UPA's second tenure - believed to be largely the courtesy of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) -...

-The Business Standard The Punjab experience suggests rising agricultural productivity doesn't automatically translate into better jobs,but the story doesn't end there. A recent paper on the post-Green revolution economic transition of Punjab's peasantry, published by Punjab Agricultural University professors Sukhpal Singh and Shruti Bhogal, suggests that increasing productivity of rural workers is only one part of the agriculture to manufacturing transition. Punjab has the most mechanized agricultural sector in the country,...

-Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Women and Child Development The Government has approved construction of 2 lakh Anganwadi Centre Buildings during the 12th Plan under the programme of ‘Reconstructing and Restructuring ICDS'. The phasing of construction is given below:-  2012-13 2013-14 2014-15  2015-16 2016-17 2017-18  0  20000  50000  60000  70000  200000 The Units will be constructed at the rate of Rs. 4.5 lakhs per unit in the cost sharing ratio of 75:25 between Centre and States against the North Eastern Region...

-The Hindu Uttarakhand has 76 dams in the ecologically fragile regions Dehradun: The Chopra Committee, which studied the impact of receding glaciers on hydroelectric power projects (HEPs), has in its report objected to the construction of HEPs in regions between 2,200 to 2,500 metres above the sea level (paraglacial regions). Uttarakhand has 76 dams with a capacity of more than 3,100 MW, in paraglacial regions The Committee was formed under the direction of the...

-Down to Earth Civil society calls for pesticide-free, organic food under government programmes for children while Bihar focuses on building new kitchens in government schools A year after 23 school children in Bihar's Saran district died of insecticide poisoning after consuming food served under Mid Day Meal (MDM) Scheme, government agencies seem to have forgotten the serious concern over handling and banning of hazardous chemicals that the tragedy raised. The children of Dharmasati-Gandaman...