-DNA Now only 51% funds meant for the job scheme will be spent on employment, while the rest will be spent on purchasing material Incorporating major changes in UPA government's flagship scheme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) quietly, the NDA government has converted it to an asset-driven programme rather than just generating jobs, which according to the officials in rural development ministry is going to affect 5 crore...
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Still parched
-The Indian Express The four-month monsoon season ended last week leaving a deficit of 12 per cent. The authorities have called it a below-normal monsoon and the worst in the past five years, but skim the data and the picture seems even more sobering. Nearly one-third of the 36 met divisions in the country have received deficient rainfall, with Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh - which are major agriculture regions -...
More »How Women Pay the Price for Population Control -Ruhi Kandhari
-Tehelka Despite the serious toll it takes on women's health, female sterilisation remains the most prevalent form of contraception in India. While memories of the 21 months of Emergency in 1975-77, imposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, survives even today in the minds of Indian men as the fear of forced sterilisation, the country's population control policies have shifted over the years since then to target the politically less...
More »Only 12% deficit in monsoon rainfall: Why is the picture of rural economy still uncertain? -Jayashree Bhosale & Avinash Celestine
-The Economic Times Dinkar Patil, a farmer from Buldhana district in Vidarbha, Maharashtra, normally cultivates cotton on his 13-acre farm land. This year, however, he has skipped the cotton crop and opted for soyabean and tur dal. "The rainfall started late. I did not cultivate cotton because of the delayed rains and the huge increase in cost of cultivation of the crop," said Patil. He is expecting a fall of about...
More »Centre asks state to build storage capacity before launching food security scheme -Dipak K Dash
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The central government is not in a hurry to push states to implement Food Security Act (FSA) without first building adequate capacity. The food ministry has even sought details of the preparedness in states where the act is in force. Sources said that only two more states - Assam and Uttarakhand - have informed the ministry about their readiness to launch the scheme. So far 11...
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