-Livemint.com Rural ministry wants same parameters of rate change in MGNREGS as state wages New Delhi: The rural development ministry has put on hold a recommendation by a high-level panel constituted by the previous Congress-LED United Progressive Alliance government for parity between the wages paid under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the minimum wages set by different state governments. Rural development secretary Amarjeet Sinha on Wednesday said the...

-Outlook India According to the Hisar-based Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC), the area in which stubble was burnt in 2016 was more than what it was in the previous two years and the same as 2013 Chandigarh: Stubble in over two lakh hectares of land was burnt last year in Haryana despite the state government cracking the whip on farmers who defied orders restricting the practice. Crop-residue burning had LED to air pollution...

-Livemint.com While higher production of foodgrains may help better the agriculture growth rate of 4.1% estimated last month, a record crop will also help keep food inflation in check New Delhi: Farmers in India have planted the highest ever area under wheat and pulses in the ongoing winter crop season, raising hopes of a bumper crop in 2016-17, surpassing past records. While higher production of foodgrains may help better the agriculture growth...

-Livemint.com Whether the present Modi-LED NDA government can live up the legacy of high capital expenditure by the Vajpayee government is the big question Arun Jaitley presented his fourth budget on 1 February 2017. This budget would be remembered for historical breaks from its predecessors due to dropping of plan versus non-plan expenditure categories, merging of railway budget into Union budget and advancing of budget date by a month etc. While these are...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's government-funded health insurance schemes have increased patients' access to hospitalisation but faiLED to reduce their households' personal out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, the most comprehensive review of the schemes so far has found. The review by public health analysts has found increases ranging from 12 per cent to 244 per cent in hospital-based services across the country since the schemes were launched a decade ago. But there is no...