-NDTV Solapur: As thousands of villages in the country come under the grip of drought, the role of the government's flagship work guarantee scheme, NREGA or National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, becomes crucial. In January, the Union government told the Supreme Court  that for all drought-hit states, NREGA's 100-day limit has been increased to 150 days. But travelling this week through Marathwada in Maharashtra, the country's drought central, in village after village we...

-The Times of India Marathwada has seen terrible droughts before. But never before did the two oldest wells in Wadval Nagnath village in Chakur taluka of Latur dry up. These wells have been around over 100 years. About eighty other wells -both old and new -situated in and around Wadval Nagnath, too, have almost dried up. Few borewells are functioning. "The owners have decided not to use the water for their crops...

-The Indian Express In Maharashtra, where the sugar industry and politics are twined, drought is a manmade disaster Rains fall from the sky, but drought is “made” on the ground, at least in Maharashtra. The prevailing water crisis in the state is not about the unavailability of water resources. It’s all about criminal mismanagement of available resources. For the record: Yes, rains were deficient last year. In regions like Marathwada, which is facing...

-FirstPost.com India has had a long history with migration, especially across the eastern border. After India attained independence, immigration assumed a political dimension and reports of migrants posing a threat to national security have surfaced over the years. Usually a topic not acknowledged by most political parties, the BJP's top priority in this year's West Bengal Assembly election is to drive infiltrators out of the country and seal off the border. Whether BJP...

-FirstPost.com New Delhi: Job creation has been suffering under the Modi Government and fresh data released by the Labour Bureau shows the extent of worry on this count. So, even as the country’s GDP growth continues to be healthy and predictions of above-average rainfall this year bring some cheer, the bad news on the jobs’ front needs the government’s immediate focus. A jobless growth does not help anyone. As per the...