-The Business Standard NGOs have been asked to run MGNREGS in the country's 184 most backward blocks Will handing over the management of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) ensure the scheme works? The rural development ministry seems to think so, at least in Naxal-hit areas. Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, NGOs are allowed to run the scheme, provided gram panchayats run...

-Live Mint/ Bloomberg As much as better policies and better tax system, it's the humble toilet that can be an engine of future Indian growth On Tuesday, the United Nations marked its inaugural World Toilet Day, designed to draw attention to the fact that more than one-sixth of humanity still lacks indoor sanitation, and that the world needs new ideas and technologies to deal with one of the most basic...

-PTI Wholesale vegetable prices in September this year increased by a whopping 89.37 per cent as compared to last year, an industry body said on Monday. The comparative rise observed at the consumer price index (CPI) basis vegetable prices was 34.93 per cent, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) said in a study. "Wholesale vegetable prices increased by 89.37 per cent in September, 2013 as compared to the same month last...

-Economic and Political Weekly   Much work remains to be done if the new Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act has to mark a meaningful shift for India's adivasi communities. Chitrangada Choudhury (chitrangada@csds.in) Chitrangada Choudhury (chitrangada@csds.in) is a multimedia journalist and researcher, and currently with the Publics and Policies program at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi. Among the worst excesses committed in India's six decade-old democracy, the forcible displacment...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Numerous solar energy startups are delivering cheap and accessible power to rural India. These ventures have come up with solutions - ranging from solar off-grids to solar-powered home systems - that are not just cost-effective but also less toxic than traditional fuels like kerosene. "In a country, where large swathes of population have little or unreliable access to basic power, off grids is the solution," said Shyam...