-The Business Standard Chhattisgarh Government defines Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and will provide 50 days additional employment to the beneficiaries in the state. The 100-day ceiling of guaranteed employment for the rural people would not be a bar in Chhattisgarh from now. The state government would provide job for additional 50 days---ensuring that the card holder of MGNREGA would get 150 days secured employment. "The proposal to increase MGNREGA...

-Frontline How far will the proposed women's bank help marginalised sections when women's SHGs get little support and find it hard even to open accounts in public sector banks? WHILE the recent announcement of a women's bank in the Union Budget has been touted as a progressive measure for the financial inclusion of women, no concrete measures have been forthcoming to make all existing public sector banks sensitive to the needs...

-The Financial Express Leading economists who fear that the cost of the food security law on the exchequer would be much higher than estimated by the government have a seemingly unlikely ally - farmers' groups. A couple of national-level farmers' organisations have opposed the National Food Security Bill, saying it would "lead to nationalisation of agriculture by making the government the biggest buyer, hoarder and seller of foodgrains". Farmers' representatives from a...

-The Business Standard The various grants under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan don't reach all schools - and not on time, either Educational spending is soaring. At the turn of the decade, new legislation has been enacted to make education a fundamental right. But India's elementary schoolchildren are just not learning. The country's elementary education budget has more than doubled since 2007-08, from Rs 68,853 crore to Rs 147,059 crore this fiscal, but the...

-The Business Standard The implications of the food security Bill remain worrying The revised draft of the food security Bill, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Tuesday, marks some distinct changes over the draft introduced in Parliament in 2011. However, it may still not fully satisfy either the states or activists. While it retains the overall population coverage of 75 per cent rural and 50 per cent urban,...