-The Hindu Poor in rural areas seem disinclined to seek employment under the scheme; low wages and delay in payment are cited as reasons Hyderabad: Despite a severe drought in 2015-16, many of the poor in rural areas of Telangana, except in a couple of districts, seemed to be disinclined to seek employment under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Low wages and delay in its payment apart from various other...

-DNA The draft National Policy on Women is a progressive document advocating legislative changes and gendered approaches. But will other ministries comply? The draft National Policy on Women, released by ministry of women and child development (WCD), is a progressive document in tune with the times but the challenge will be to bridge the gap between policy and implementation. There is considerable emphasis on the conditions of single women, migrants and the...

-The Tribune Chandigarh: While Punjab is increasingly increasing using canal water for drinking on account of high toxicity in the ground water, it will now pump out this water for irrigation purposes. The new tubewell connections – 1.25 lakh - will not just deplete the state’s already depleted water table, but water pumped up from these tubewells pose a risk of contaminating the food grains and vegetables grown in the fields. Sources in...

-Governance Now ... and of planning to counter it. Climate change and economic growth will worsen water shortage, says an MIT study. But there are solutions – even now One billion people will be facing severe water shortage in India and neighbouring areas by 2050 thanks to climate change and expansion of economic growth, according to a projection made by the researchers of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Their new study...

-The Hindu Intellectual property accelerates innovation in certain technology sectors, but it impedes innovation in others. The biggest flaw of the new policy is that it does not acknowledge this. Intellectual property (IP) regimes suffer a classic paradox. While they attempt to encourage innovation and creativity, they have themselves been shielded from innovation experimentation. For some years now, India has been attempting to break this mould and craft a regime to suit...