When a massive sum of public money is spent on a programme like Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGA)--a demand-driven programme, there is likelihood of financial misappropriations and mismanagement. Thankfully there are checks and balances in the rural employment guarantee legislation to counter such malpractices. It is worth noting that the total allocation under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGA) for 2020-21 was Rs. 1,11,500.00 crore (R.E.), up...

-The Hindu Business Line Developed nations need to look at their own subsidies to farmers, policies on GM crop and pesticide exports The ongoing farmers’ protest has attracted a lot of global attention. So much so that the External Affairs Ministry even put out a rejoinder after some global celebrities tweeted in support of the protest. Some sections of the Indian diaspora, too, expressed their support which has attracted criticism back home. Agriculture...

-The Indian Express Apar Gupta writes: The substance of many of the requirements were never put to public consultation or deliberation by experts. This is particularly the case for the regulations for online news portals and video streaming platforms. In the polarised environment that we now inhabit, there are few public agreements. One of these rare instances is an agreement that social media is broken. For many commentators, this is an area...

-PTI/ NDTV Farmers Protest: Nodeep Kaur, the 23-year-old activist, has also claimed that her medical examination was not conducted in violation of section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Chandigarh: Labour rights activist Nodeep Kaur in her bail plea before the Punjab and Haryana High Court has claimed that she was severely beaten up at a police station after her arrest by the Sonipat police last month. The 23-year-old activist, hailing from Punjab's...

-The Hindu The legal regime that enables the government to block websites needs urgent reform On February 1, 2021, in the wake of the intensification of the farmers’ protests and reports of violent incidents on January 26 – a number of Twitter accounts became inaccessible in India. These included (among many others) the accounts of The Caravan magazine, the actor Sushant Singh, and the Kisan Ekta Morcha handle, which was chronicling the...