-The Indian Express Congress may be talking to economists and experts. But is it listening to the voter? Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s plan for a “surgical strike on poverty” is built around some key numbers: Rs 12,000, the target minimum monthly income for a household; 5 crore households (amounting to 20 per cent of all Indian households); Rs 6,000, their average monthly earning; and therefore, Rs 6,000, the monthly amount required...

  Growth in rural wages not only indicates economic prosperity of the masses, it is also considered important so as to generate effective demand for goods and services, which is produced by various sectors of the economy. When money becomes available in the hands of rural workers due to government spending on programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), it generates demand for commodities. The production of commodities...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: For the very first time, Delhi will get a single court complex where all corruption-related cases pending in various city courts will be tried. The move is likely to put anti-graft trials on a fast-track and free up existing courtrooms for other cases. After a long wait, Delhi high court decided to kick-start the capital’s newest court complex on from April 9 by shifting all Prevention...

-The Hindu The Communist Party of India has proposed a national employment guarantee law, named after Bhagat Singh, and unemployment allowance, in keeping with the Opposition’s narrative of joblessness to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pitch of national security. “Our fight is to defend the nation and the Constitution. Our fight is to defeat the forces of hate. We all want to be argumentative Indians, but Mr. Modi and his people have...

-Frontline.in The cash transfer schemes the Narendra Modi government and several State governments have announced to woo the peasantry ahead of the election, like the loan waivers, short-change farmers because they avoid the vital issue of remunerative prices for farm produce. In a sudden flurry of new-found concern for the long-suffering Indian peasant, parties across the political spectrum are desperately trying to woo this section of society. In fact, ever since...