-The Indian Express The flagship rural jobs programme has shown improved performance after initial neglect by the Modi government. New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government may spend close to Rs 60,000 crore on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the current fiscal, a record for the programme that was a baby of the previous United Progressive Alliance regime. The Union Budget had allocated Rs 38,500 crore towards MGNREGA for...

-Business Standard Exemptions granted on agri income and subsidies provided by the Centre and states are being cornered by big farmers and corporates The Comptroller and auditor general’s proposed audit of exemptions granted to big corporates, companies and even farmers under the head of agriculture incomes has once again rekindled the debate as to whether farm incomes derived from big companies and large farmers should be taxed. According to an analysis done by...

-Deccan Chronicle Expert said that extra efforts have to be put in to create awareness to take care of pregnant women and babies to avoid malnutrition. Chennai: A lack of awareness on the nutritional value, a superstitious fear that one may become dark and the lack of interest in the taste of ragi and millets are a few reasons why many people in urban as well as rural Tamil Nadu prefer rice. Though...

-Livemint.com Pulses are important from the perspectives of food security, environmental sustainability and balanced nutrition Most pulses such as pigeon pea (tur dal), black gram (urad), green gram (mung), field beans (waal), moth beans (matki) and horse gram (kulith) are native to the Indian subcontinent and have been an integral part of our diet for centuries. However, the single-minded focus on cereals over the last 50 years—the green revolution in wheat and...

-The Indian Express The Centre is pushing and many states are implementing Direct Benefit Transfers – and encountering little political opposition The entire focus on ushering in a direct benefit transfer (DBT) regime for delivering subsidies to the targeted populations has so far centered around cooking gas, and to some extent, on isolated pilot experiments with food subsidy. Agriculture subsidies, especially on inputs other than fertilisers, have largely escaped attention in...