-The Times of India MUMBAI: Nearly 90 lakh farmers in Maharashtra have been impacted by the drought that has devastated the kharif crop, official data shows. The figure is almost on a par with the population of Sweden. Maharashtra is already known for its farm crisis and reports the highest number of farmer's suicides in the country. The drought - brought on by a delayed and inadequate monsoon - is set to...

-IANS Civil society Activists as well as economists Monday decried the "budget cuts" being made by the government for the rural employment guarantee act. The government seems to have decided to ignore its legal responsibility and is using budget cuts to rapidly dilute and undermine the rural employment act, the Activists said at a press conference here. Economist Jayati Ghosh said that MGNREGA funding has not been keeping to its demand based requirements...

-The Hindu Business Line   Activists cry foul over ‘dilution' of the scheme New Delhi: On the ninth anniversary of the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the Government and civil society organisations locked horns over the scheme's "alleged" dilution. At a press meet, Activists complained of a "systematic effort" on the Finance Ministry's part to "finish" the scheme step by step. They alleged that the Centre, citing that...

-The Hindu Actual revenue from RTI services continues to be pegged low, year after year Hyderabad: Estimates of revenue generated through RTI (Right to Information) queries and actual revenue generated by the State government, has revealed great disparity over the years. Each RTI applicant is required to pay a sum for information demanded. Going by data from the last few years, revenue estimated by the GAD (General Administration Department) of united Andhra Pradesh...

-The Indian Express As the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) enters its 10th year on Monday, data shows households have been provided employment for just a little over one third of the mandated 100 days so far this financial year on an average. By March end, this could improve a bit, but still end up among the lowest averages since the inception of the Act. According to data available...