-CounterCurrents.org Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) this year has almost come to a standstill. While the nation is debating the economic slowdown and falling demand in the rural areas , economists emphasizing that increase in the rural income and generating resources for the poor as a potential solution to the on going crisis, the so called world’s largest job scheme remains neglected by the Government of India. While focusing...

-The Telegraph Nearly 10 crore children have the midday meal in 11 lakh schools every working day New Delhi: The Centre has allowed privately managed centralised kitchens to be engaged to serve food to schoolchildren in rural areas under its midday meal scheme — a decision it had earlier announced in May 2017 only to roll back in April this year — raising fears of loss of jobs for thousands of cooks. Trade...

-The Hindu Business Line Noted Gandhian economist Dr Sudarshan Iyengar surveys the distressed agricultural landscape, pinpoints its weaknesses, and prescribes solutions with their roots in Gandhian agronomics. Edited excerpts from an interview to BusinessLine: * Given the agrarian crisis in India today, how relevant are Gandhi's economic principles based on the village economy, and equitable distribution of resources? They are relevant in the context of Gandhi's view of gram swaraj (village self-rule), which...

-The Hindu Business Line The government must simplify and rationalise GST, kickstart rural consumption, revive agriculture and tackle the lack of credit for capital creation, says former PM Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an eminent economist himself, feels that the Narendra Modi-led government needs to come out of its habit of headline management and address the economic challenges which the country is facing today. “We cannot afford to deny that India is facing...

-The Hindu The transfer of the RBI’s surplus is only a stopgap measure which will not address the key problem of a lack of demand There is no longer any room for doubt on the parlous state of the Indian economy. The automobile industry, seen as a bellwether of activity in the post-liberalisation years, is in crisis, as automakers, parts manufacturers and dealers have laid off about 350,000 workers since April this...