-Livemint.com/ Bloomberg Corruption being rife though, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has boosted agricultural wages and rural-labour market Over the last 10 years in India, perhaps no other law has sparked such sustained debate as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), universally known as ‘Narega.’ Passed by the previous Congress government in February 2006 and upheld by the Narendra Modi administration, it’s given rise to the...

The budgetary support to interest subvention scheme has increased by almost 14 times between 2006-07 and 2016-17. However, the much-touted subsidised short-term credit scheme provides little help to the small and marginal farmers, apart from tenant farmers. According to the Committee on Medium-term Path on Financial Inclusion, which submitted its report in December 2015, the interest subvention scheme suffers from 3 types of defects: i. Subsidised credit may not be...

-The Indian Express Mamata has been declaring scheme after scheme, including free bicycles and shoes to girls in Jangalmahal. At least 1,04,000 adivasi girls were given cycles until last year, says the TMC election manifesto. Raipur/ Salbani: Sipra Das, 19, is the first in her family to go to college. A grant of Rs 25,000 under the Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme will not only cover her fees but also help pay for...

-Frontline The government’s passage of the Aadhaar Bill in complete disregard of even basic parliamentary procedures and in subversion of an ongoing judicial process puts at risk a number of constitutional rights and liberties of citizens. The benefits cited are just ploys to realise a neoliberal dream. “Congressmen are dancing as if [Aadhaar] was a herb for all cures. With the Supreme Court pulling up the Centre, people are now seeking...

-The Hindu The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme, which recognises the importance of clean cooking energy, is welcome. But we need to focus on issues of cash flow, awareness, availability and administration Within a fortnight of the recently announced Union Budget, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, earmarking Rs. 8,000 crore for it, with the aim of providing five crore subsidised Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)...