-The Hindu The Union Cabinet gave ex post facto approval on Wednesday to provide an additional 50 days of work to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme beneficiaries during the current financial year wherever drought or natural calamities have been notified. The scheme guarantees 100 days of work. The decision will enable the States to provide additional wage employment to the rural poor in drought-affected areas, the release said. “The poorest...

-The Indian Express Under the plan, the state governments will identify the clusters in accordance with the framework for implementation prepared by the Ministry of Rural Development. In a bid to transform rural areas to economically, socially and physically sustainable spaces, the Cabinet Wednesday approved the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) with an outlay of Rs 5,142.08 crore to set up 300 rural clusters across the country by 2019-20. “The mission...

-The Business Standard The Budget missed the chance to articulate its intentions to the farming community; the prime minister's Independence Day speech provides another invaluable opportunity Young Indians starting their careers in an environment devoid of hope and opportunity and surviving on dole will be inclined to populist politics. But the farming community expects much more substance from the government, and the Budget was a good example of how populism trumped...

-Economic and Political Weekly   The emphasis on use of digital technologies to bridge the "rural-urban gap" in the union budget is limited to high talk and minimal allocations. The need for a more comprehensive and peoples' participation-oriented rural action plan should have been the focus while setting sectoral allocations, but that is not to be in this mid-year budget. Vipul Mudgal (vipulmudgal@gmail.com) heads the Inclusive Media for Change project at the Centre...

-Live Mint   Programme that aims to provide basic facilities such as drinking water may focus on census towns and small cities New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is likely to announce a mission aimed at providing urban facilities in rural areas in the Union budget in July, a promise the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the ruling coalition, made in its election manifesto. The mission is aimed at providing...