-The Telegraph The wage rate under rural job scheme NREGA could soon be brought on a par with the minimum wages for agricultural labourers fixed by states. The Centre is likely to amend the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by incorporating a provision saying the wage cannot be less than the minimum rate for agricultural labourers in a particular state. At present, there are discrepancies between the two. A Karnataka...

-The Hindu Business Line MNREGA Act may be amended to end present disparity From April 1, wage rates under the UPA's flagship MGNREGA will be revised upwards across the country. The wages are now linked to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labour (CPI-AL). A notification to this effect is being issued for the period April 1 to March 31, 2013, the Rural Development Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, informed the Lok Sabha on...

The Budget provides proof of the United Progressive Alliance government having forgotten the importance of its own “flagship schemes”. BUDGET 2012-13 provides conclusive proof that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has lost its way. It has managed the remarkable feat of upsetting almost everyone and making no one happy. The Budget is highly regressive in both taxation and spending terms and will raise prices of essentials, so aam aurat and...

The ongoing debate over the incidence of poverty in India, often assuming surreal proportions, shows that there is indeed a ‘philosophy of poverty’ guiding current economic reforms. The loot of our country’s resources that is taking place both through these reforms, which continue to widen gross inequalities, and through the open plunder of our resources for private gain — as reflected in the series of mega scams — require the legitimacy...

The state government has proposed to spend more than Rs7,300 crore on the ailing agriculture sector — in desperate need of assistance after registering negative growth in the previous financial year — and on irrigation. However, this may not translate into direct assistance to farmers. Moreover, this year’s state budget continued to neglect dry land farming – which is of serious concern in view of erratic weather conditions – and has...