Along with the proposed food security legislation and the communal violence Bill that have been its focus until now, the reconstituted National Advisory Council (NAC) is beginning to focus again on the government’s marquee rural job guarantee scheme as well. The ministry of rural development has been told to make a presentation on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to a working group of the NAC on Friday,...

The three partners of the Left alliance will agitate for implementation of the recommendations of the D Bandopadyaya Commission on land reforms. Releasing the manifesto of the CPM here on Wednesday, its state secretary, Vijaykant Thakur, said that the Left alliance would also ask the government to bring in drastic land reforms on the pattern on Tripura, West Bengal and Kerala. He claimed, "In our manifesto, the Left parties have given alternative...

Except for the Left parties, none of the major political parties have given importance to land reforms and problems of landless people during the elections. The Janata Dal(U) and the RJD-LJP are silent on land reforms. In their manifestoes in the previous elections, they had devoted some space to declare their dedication to the problem of land reforms. According to the official sources, the last action of distribution of surplus land was...

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra, a countrywide rally of farmers questioning the corporatisation of rural farms, reached the city on Sunday morningfrom Ralegaon Siddhi after covering 20 states over 71 days. The rally has demanded an explanation on the socio-cultural, environmental and political ramifications of such rampant corporatisation. It has modelled itself after Gandhi’s Dandi March. The march, that began on October 2 at Sabarmati, will end at Rajghat on December 11....

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said that the central government would soon bring forth a food security bill for the benefit of the poorest sections of society. Addressing a Congress workers' 'Sadbhavna Rally' at Sewagram in Wardha district, about 85 km from here, Gandhi pointed out that the government has already legislated the Right to Education to ensure education for all children, and the food security bill will be the...