-Business Standard Interest subvention, crop insurance on the cards The finance ministry is working on a plan to increase the number of workdays in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) from 100 a year per person per household to 150 in areas receiving low monsoon rain. The government might also provide Interest subvention and crop insurance in drought-affected regions through the e-Financial Management System (eFMS). “Since the eFMS contains the data...

-The Financial Express The NITI Aayog must firm up a concrete plan involving the states to deal with monsoon deficiency to avoid all-round confusion. This is an old and oft-repeated story in the media, but worth mentioning here for the readers who have missed it. It goes like this. During the period of erstwhile Planning Commission, one of the officials in-charge of projecting agricultural growth found out an innovative way to do...

-The Financial Express The Narendra Modi government has pledged to employ all machinery at its disposal to deal with a second straight year of deficient monsoon. The Narendra Modi government has pledged to employ all machinery at its disposal to deal with a second straight year of deficient monsoon and denied an impending distress in the vulnerable pockets of the country, but a dispassionate look at the ground situation would show there...

-The Times of India Blog Chouhan and other state leaders must not ban this super-food for growing children from midday meals Many Indian states have started providing eggs with midday meals, either in schools or in anganwadis or both. This is the best thing that has happened for a long time in the field of social policy. Indian children are among the most undernourished in the world. They are starved of protein, vitamins,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The consumer affairs ministry is preparing a "strong" case against Nestle on the Maggi issue, which it will file in the national consumer forum. Sources said the ministry would file a petition on behalf of consumers, seeking damages from the multinational for selling an unsafe product, adopting unfair trade practices and running misleading advertisements. Consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan held a meeting with top officials...