-The Business Standard NGOs have been asked to run MGNREGS in the country's 184 most backward blocks Will handing over the management of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) ensure the scheme works? The rural development ministry seems to think so, at least in Naxal-hit areas. Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, NGOs are allowed to run the scheme, provided gram panchayats run...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: Thirteen-year-old Ramesh, a Class 8 student, ran away from his home in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district after his mother died. "My father used to beat me often. Unable to bear the torture, I ran away and reached Chennai at midnight and stayed on pavements for a while," said Ramesh (name changed). Later, an Activist took him to an orphanage in Chennai. But not many are as...

-Down to Earth A Kerala village grows organic pokkali rice after 25 years Harvest of pokkali rice in Kerala's Ezhupunna village, which began on October 27 and lasted three weeks, was nothing short of a local event. After all, the indigenous, saline and flood-resistant rice variety was cultivated in the village after 25 years. People in the village had to wage a long battle to be able to cultivate the crop once...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Lawyers and Activists have condemned the union government for defaulting on the deadline to frame rules to regulate acid attacks. With the Supreme Court granting the government a fresh four month extension on Tuesday, Activists called for an end to systemic "lethargy" and "insensitivity" on crimes against women. Alok Dixit, who runs a campaign called Stop Acid Attacks, isn't optimistic about the extended deadline. "This isn't...

-The Hindu Looking to capture demand effectively for its flagship scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Ministry of Rural Development will pro-actively register demand in select districts of the country. The Ministry has launched a "Kaam Mango Abhiyan" after recognising that the decline in people demanding work under MGNREGA is not necessarily due to a lack of demand but caused by a failure to capture demand effectively. This...