-The Hindu ‘In a democracy, such bias towards select papers is shocking' In a strongly-worded letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Congress on Sunday demanded the immediate withdrawal of the circular restricting the purchase of newspapers by State libraries and those it aids and sponsors to ones specified by it. “Undemocratic” Protesting the move, which he described as “most partial and undemocratic,” West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pradip Bhattacharya said...
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West Bengal unhappy with inadequate MGNREGA wage hike
-IANS The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government will soon move the central government to increase Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) wages to Rs.200 from Rs.136. Unhappy with the central government hiking the wage for the 100-day rural job guarantee programme from Rs.130 to Rs.136 in the state, West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress is planning to take up the issue with New Delhi. "We will soon demand that the central government...
More »Where are farm hands when you need them? by Devinder Sharma
MGNREGA is certainly a good idea. But it can’t be allowed to play havoc with farming operations by weaning away labourers during peak season RURAL DEVELOPMENT Minister Jairam Ramesh recently rubbished the need for freezing the flagship rural job scheme MGNREGA during peak agricultural season. Dismissing the possibility, Ramesh had said: “The matter has been examined by the Mihir Shah Committee and rejected.” Knowing that Mihir Shah’s entry into Planning Commission...
More »The great Indian poverty game-Sonalde Desai
Nowhere are the argumentative Indians more visible than in the cacophony surrounding poverty estimates. Poverty is declining; inequality is increasing; no one can live on Rs 28 a day; nine per cent of Indians are poor; 70 per cent of Indians are poor. Poverty is too important to be used as ping-pong between optimists and pessimists on the Indian economy. I am deeply disillusioned to discover that there are no certainties...
More »Law to make rural service mandatory for doctors
-The Deccan Herald The State government, faced with severe shortage of doctors in rural areas, is likely to promulgate an ordinance to make one year of rural service mandatory for undergraduate and post-graduate medical students. Making an announcement to this effect in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said despite fixing a minimum salary of Rs 70,000, doctors were not coming forward to work in rural areas....
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