-The Hindu   Investment in a scheme that guarantees rural employment with minimum wages should be seen as complementary and not alternative to development activities A recent paper by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has argued that the "push" factors of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are not as important as the economic growth "pull" factors, for increasing agricultural wages. The paper has received wide media...

-The Business Standard Overall GDP growth, farm growth has more impact on increasing real farm wages than MGNREGS Even as the United Progressive Alliance government is touting the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as its biggest step for the uplift of the rural poor, a discussion paper floated by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) suggests compared to this scheme, growth in overall gross domestic product, agriculture...

-Bloomberg The corpse of Indian farmer Bengali Singh burned to ash atop a blazing funeral pyre on the banks of the river Ganges in 2006. Five years later, the dead man was recorded as being paid by India's $33 billion rural jobs program to dig an irrigation canal in Jharkhand state. Officials in his village and the surrounding region used at least 500 identities, including those of Singh, a disabled child of...

-The Business Standard Ashok Gulati in a paper also gave measures to contain the inflation As India's food inflation continues to remain stubbornly high - it was in double digit for the third straight month in February 2013 at 11.38% - a discussion paper floated by eminent agriculture economist and chairman of Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) Ashok Gulati has blamed high fiscal deficit, rising farm wages and global food...

-Frontline Social development indicators in Gujarat are poor, proving that development in the State is lopsided On a hot day last November near Rajkot, Ramjibhai Patel, an octogenarian farmer, pointed to the middle distance and said, “See that lake?” There was indeed a shimmer in the dry landscape indicating water, but after a relatively poor monsoon, it seemed improbable. Chuckling, he said, “Yes, I see doubt on your face and you are...