The Union Budget 2020-21, which was presented by the Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on 1st February, 2020 has failed to impress civil society activists and farmers' rights groups (click here and here). Through their press releases and notes, members of CSOs were demanding as well as suggesting the Union Government for hiking the budgetary allocation for schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Pradhan Mantri...
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Civil society demands for increase in budgetary allocation under MGNREGA to clear pending wages
-Press release by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 31st January, 2020 Rural distress has risen to alarming levels. As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of 2017-18, rural unemployment stands at 8 percent (statement 30 in Section 3.7, PLFS). In conjunction with skyrocketing food inflation levels, this is a serious concern. The situation is much worse for the landless depending on casual manual labour who constitute more than half the rural...
More »Civil society presses for an increase in budgetary allocation for MGNREGA in FY 2020-21
-Press release by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 27 January, 2020 As the Indian economy continues to languish, the government ignores the advice given by several noted economists, including that of the most recent Nobel winner Abhijit Banerjee, to improve the functioning of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The economy is facing blow after blow. India has the highest rates of unemployment in the past 45 years and food inflation...
More »Government must engage in a collaborative effort with farmer groups -Ajay Vir Jakhar
-The Indian Express There is an ambiguous provision to levy income tax on “dairying”. Either the provision should be removed or it should be clarified that it does not include dairy farmers. Dairying is a part of agriculture and as per the Constitution, it is a state subject. Those in power may not yet be accepting blame for the barrage of negative news on the state of the economy, but cracks are...
More »Govt awaits Labour ministry's verdict on modifying consumer price indices
-PTI On a supplementary question on when outstanding dues to Andhra Pradesh will be released, Tomar gave an assurance that no pendency of dues relating to Andhra Pradesh would remain with his ministry. The government is awaiting the Labour ministry's decision on modifying consumer price indices before linking MGNREGA wages to inflation, Rajya Sabha was informed on Friday. Replying to supplementary questions during Question Hour in the Upper House on linking of wages...
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