-The Indian Express Haryana law on educational qualification for panchayat polls is discriminatory. SC must rethink decision to uphold it The Supreme Court has ruled that the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015, which mandates minimum educational qualification for candidates — Class 10 for general candidates, Class 8 for women, Class 5 for Dalits — contesting panchayat polls is constitutionally valid. The apex court must revisit its decision. The Haryana law...

-The Indian Express The Haryana state government had turned down a suggestion to drop the educational criteria In a first, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a new law in Haryana, mandating minimum educational qualification as a pre-requisite for the candidates contesting panchayat polls. A bench led by Justice J Chelameswar dismissed a batch of petitions that had challenged the validity of the amendment in the pertinent law. The court ruled that the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Haryana panchayati raj law stipulating educational qualifications for contesting the forthcoming local polls, which according to the petitioners created an insurmountable barrier for an overwhelming majority of women and Dalits. After hearing senior advocate Kirti Singh, a bench of Justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre stayed the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015, which mandated educational qualifications for...

KEY TRENDS    • The proportion of households which completed 100 days of wage employment under MGNREGA in total households that worked was 6.02 percent in 2014-15, 10.07 percent in 2015-16, 7.79 percent in 2016-17 and 5.78 percent in 2017-18 @$ • Completed works as a proportion of total works was 30.15 percent in 2014-15, 29.39 percent in 2015-16, 40.27 percent in 2016-17, 32.01 percent in 2017-18 and 3.3 percent in 2018-19 (as on 7th May, 2018) @$   • In...

  KEY TRENDS   • The report entitled Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana: An Assessment from the Centre for Science and Environment (released on 21 July, 2017) finds that PMBY is not beneficial for farmers in vulnerable regions. For farmers in vulnerable regions such as Bundelkhand and Marathwada, factors like low indemnity levels, low threshold yields, low sum insured and default on loans make PMFBY a poor scheme to safeguard against extreme weather events. CSE's...