-Farmlandgrab.org Oxfam’s Phil Bloomer reports on the shocking scandal of (mostly) secretive land-grabbing, usually from those least able to defend their rights Land grabbing has fast become a major threat to poor communities in Africa, Asia and South America. Poverty-stricken women and men are being driven from their homes and the land they rely on to grow food to eat and make a living, usually without compensation. In many cases this is...

-The Hindu Kerala’s Kudumbashree network and the rural employment guarantee scheme have converged to provide a unique model of empowerment An incredible story of empowerment has been unfolding in the wake of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) programme in the State of Kerala. This is the story of how a socially engineered convergence of the scheme with panchayati raj institutions and the State sponsored community network of poor...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: Jharkhand resolved to eradicate child labour within the next four years with chief minister Arjun Munda unveiling a comprehensive plan today to eliminate the scourge that has victimised over 4.07 lakh youngsters slogging as ragpickers or errand boys at homes, dhabas or roadside garages. The ambitious goal will be pursued by various departments of the state government in conjunction with International Labour Organisation (ILO) by assigning specific roles at...

-The Indian Express After 14 years, the Central government has held the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat constant at last year’s Rs 1,285 per quintal. There is, of course, still no guarantee that the price will not be changed if major producer states like Punjab and Haryana raise objections. But for now, the UPA government’s newly discovered zeal to push through another reform is heartening. It may also be useful...

-The Hindu Patiala (Punjab): It is an illegal but accepted practice here to employ agricultural Labourers and their family against a loan The blaring gurdwara loudspeakers at Punjab’s Gandav village confirmed the worst fears of Jasbir Kaur. They were announcing that the recently-widowed young woman would lose the one-room shed she calls home if she was unable to pay back the Rs. 80,000 her husband had borrowed from the village landowner. With...