-Newsclick.in The scheme, which is similar to MGNREGS, is an employment-of-last-resort programme in order to provide minimum livelihood security to the Poorest of the Poor in the urban areas in absence of enough employment opportunity in the economy. In the midst of increasing unemployment in the country, along with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for the rural Poor, the state government of Kerala has an interesting employment-of-last-resort programme for...

-Hindustan Times Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday pledged to roll out a monthly income guarantee scheme, if his party comes to power at the Centre, to ensure India’s 20 per cent Poorest families make at least Rs 12,000 every month. The scheme would cover 5 crore families and benefit nearly 25 crore people, said Gandhi after the Congress Working Committee cleared the plan that party president described as the “final...

-The Indian Express Stress faced by certain industries, drought in some areas hurt patronage of financial schemes for MSMEs, says State Level Bankers’ Committee report Ahmedabad: The Union government’s high profile financial aid schemes meant to support the micro, small and medium enterprises of the country have not performed as well as expected in Gujarat, a report of the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) released on Tuesday showed. Districts such as...

-The Telegraph The CSE alleges that the surveyors did not visit all the cities they ranked Calcutta: The recently released annual survey report on the Swachh Bharat mission, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project, paints an “over-exaggerated” picture of its success and is riddled with “anomalies”, an environment think tank has claimed. The Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment has said the Swachh Survekshan 2019 was a rushed job, sped up to allow...

-The Hindu Business Line The focus must shift away from sops, to raising farmers’ income by promoting better seeds and rejuvenating soil health Agrarian crisis is staring on our face and, as usual, a flood of familiar suggestions have resurfaced. The political responses have been on expected lines. Fixing MSPs (minimum support prices) at 50 per cent over costs is as disastrous as it can get. There is no inherent incentive in cutting...