-NewsYaps.com In 2005, the Parliament of India enacted a landmark legislation known as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The aim of this law, renamed ‘Mahatma Gandhi NREGA' in 2009, was to create a legally enforceable guarantee of employment for any adult from rural India willing to do casual manual labour on local public works at a statutory minimum wage. Public works programmes have long been implemented in India...

-Down to Earth Demand farm income commission; urge political parties to make it an election issue A number of farmers' organisations got together on Thursday to demand a minimum living income equivalent to that of agricultural scientists for all farm households in the country and asked political parties to make it a part of their poll manifesto. Citing NSSO findings, they said the average monthly income of farm households in the country...

-The Hindu     Representatives of more than 100 farmers' organisations release a charter of demands Although the time for freebies is over as Lok Sabha elections have been announced and the model code of conduct is in place, more than 20 lakh farmers across the country have sought assurance from political parties for a minimum income security for agriculture households. The income guarantee must reflect "inter-sectoral parity" which should match the salary of a...

-Live Mint Mint examines why millions of women are missing from farms, factories, colleges, and offices in India, which has one of the lowest ratios of working women in the world Mumbai: Every monsoon, minivans ferrying women labourers can be seen making their way from the small sleepy town of Wardha to Waifad village, 18 kilometres away. Urban workers from Wardha have come to occupy an integral part of Waifad's farm...

-Frontline The tussle within some Central government Ministries over proposed cuts in the budget for rural development schemes has affected a promise made to senior citizens. THEIR wizened faces said it all. Though there was disappointment, there was also a glimmer of hope that their trek to the national capital would not go in vain. For almost a month, senior citizens, most of them poor, had been pouring into New Delhi from...