-Business Standard Even as country stares at a possible drought, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has hit a new low At a time when rural India is in distress, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which could have provided some relief, is itself facing its worst period ever. The number of people working under the scheme and the amount of work provided is dwindling, and the trend...

-The Hindu The Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana was introduced to provide partial wage compensation during pregnancy, but various issues plague its implementation The latest official figures indicate that India is well short of meeting the Millennium Development Goals that pledged to reduce the country's maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by three quarters and the infant mortality rate (IMR) by two-thirds. The Sample Registration System (SRS), 2013, records MMR at 167 per 1,00,000...

-Business Standard Marriages on hold, children being returned from schools over unpaid fees; the rural economy is bearing the brunt of unseasonal rains, a crisis in the sugar cane sector and a fall in prices of farm pro Hapur/ Meerut: In the mid-afternoon, when most farmers are returning home to rest, Rana Ranjit Singh is sweating buckets on his farm in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district, searching for vegetables left undamaged after untimely...

-The Guardian After a decade of success, the landmark scheme is being starved of money by a central government seemingly intent on reining in rural wage growth Ten years ago this week, the Indian parliament unanimously passed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). It was a historic legislation based on two interlinked goals: ensuring livelihood security to rural residents by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment...

-The Indian Express In yet another indication of the dismal performance of the scheme this financial year, less than 3 per cent households were able to complete the promised 100 days of employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) this year, effectively meaning that 97 per cent of the beneficiaries have not been able to use the scheme to its maximum intended capacity. Introduced in February 2006, MGNREGA...