-Livemint.com Public programs like MGNREGA are less successful in raising wages in regions characterized by historical inequality, finds new study When it was launched in 2006, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was envisaged to boost rural economies by providing the rural poor with 100 days of guaranteed public employment and raising rural wages. But its intended benefits may have eluded those who needed them the most, a new...

-The Hindu Stimulus measure to link pay to consumer price index with annual revision. Staring at a slump in rural demand and a slowdown in the rural economy, the Centre plans to inject more money into the UPA’s flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme by linking wages under the Act to an updated inflation index, which will be revised annually. It hopes this will increase wages, thus increasing...

-IANS The move to not extend non-captive mining lease will impact 334 mines belonging to cos like Tata & Vedanta. NEW DELHI: In a setback for the mining industry, the government is set to reject a proposal to extend non-captive mining leases of companies that are expiring after completing 50-year period in March, 2020. The move will impact about 334 mines belonging to companies such as Tata Steel, Vedanta Limited, Essel Mining, V.M....

-The Hindu Women unwilling to consume iron-folic acid tablets could opt for alternative. GUWAHATI: A drive for good nutrition among pregnant women and children in a southern Assam district has been given a gooseberry candy twist. This follows a report that the targeted groups find the prescribed iron-folic acid tablets repulsive. According to the 2015 National Family Health Survey, 47.2% of the women of reproductive age in Hailakandi were anaemic. The district, thus,...

-The Hindu Business Line The government must simplify and rationalise GST, kickstart rural consumption, revive agriculture and tackle the lack of credit for capital creation, says former PM Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an eminent economist himself, feels that the Narendra Modi-led government needs to come out of its habit of headline management and address the economic challenges which the country is facing today. “We cannot afford to deny that India is facing...