-Frontline.in The Oxfam India report on employment says jobs remain a huge challenge in India where half of the workforce depends on agriculturefor livelihood. Employment, or the lack of it, has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in the general election this year. Most surveys show that the single biggest concern preoccupying the electorate, especially the youth, is unemployment. The very fact that the government introduced a quota for the...

Non-payment of MGNREGA wages on time to workers and non-revision of daily wage rates, among other things, have kept the poor away from the programme in many states. When the notified daily wage rates under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (2005) Act (MGNREGA) for 2019-20 was announced on 26th March 2019, it became clear that the existing wage rates were not revised (viz. as compared to 2018-19) in...

-Business Standard Falling incomes and longer winter to translate into lower demand for at least some months The new financial year is not much cheer to companies which generate a large chunk of sales in rural India. Their chief executives say slowing economic growth and falling rural wages are leading to a sharp fall in demand, one that will reflect in the next few quarters. A longer winter season has delayed offtake of...

-The Hindu Governments can provide direct cash transfers while creating conditions for employment With the Congress promising through the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) scheme ?6,000 every month to the poorest 20% of households if voted to power, Mahendra Dev and Pronab Sen talk of the importance and problems of direct cash transfers. Providing social protection is important even as governments try to create conditions for income-generating activities, they say in a discussion...

  Growth in rural wages not only indicates economic prosperity of the masses, it is also considered important so as to generate effective demand for goods and services, which is produced by various sectors of the economy. When money becomes available in the hands of rural workers due to government spending on programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), it generates demand for commodities. The production of commodities...