-Business Standard Official panel points to bid deficiencies in rural job guarantee, pensions, housing and other programmes Wage payment delays are a distressing feature of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), an official panel says. This has to be adequately addressed, by  the Centre and states, to keep the programme’s spirit alive, it has said. It and some other findings of concern are the result of a multi-state Common Review...

-The Hindu The U.P. government will now provide farmers a grant of Rs. 1,500 per quintal in the Kharif season and Rs. 800 per quintal in the Rabi season. Lucknow: To help farmers recover from successive crop losses in drought-affected Bundelkhand, the Uttar Pradesh government is encouraging them to increase the cultivation of oilseeds, especially sesame (til), in the coming Kharif season. The State has increased subsidy on oilseeds. The government will now...

-Economic and Political Weekly The implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 has been opaque and there is serious lack of awareness about its provisions not only among the benefi ciaries but also among the officials in charge of implementing it. Given the complaints from either side, it is time the government reviewed the law and also looked at the objections raised when it was first tabled as a bill. Please...

-The Hindu Rain on Tuesday brought partial relief to Uttarakhand, where operations to put out forest fires continue on a war footing. Nainital: Showers were experienced in the higher reaches of Rudraprayag, including Kedarnath and Gaurikund. Parts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Pithoragarh districts also received light rain. “Light to moderate rain will be experienced throughout the State by Wednesday morning. This will continue for 72 hours,” Director of the Dehradun Meteorological Centre...

-The Hindu Forging gram sabha resolutions clears the path to lucrative mining... Such fictions manufacture on file the legal requirement of villagers’ participation and consent. Over 12,000 villages across Odisha conserve their community forests, says a 2013 Odisha Jungle Manch study. In a visit last October to seven villages in Keonjhar district’s Gandhamardan range, Munda communities showed me their forest protection rosters. Each roster listed four villagers for every weekday to roam...