-Livemint.com In the last three years, wages of agricultural labourers have increased only by 0.5% per year while those of non-agricultural workers have declined by 0.25% per year, the worst so far in 30 years The agrarian economy continues to be plagued by falling output prices, declining incomes and increased variation in agricultural production pointing to a situation of uncertainty and vulnerability among most rural residents. This has created an unprecedented demand...

-The Indian Express Government must be circumspect about Cauvery dispute resolution mechanism. The government has been wise in not pressing the panic button on the Cauvery. In fact, the concept of a Cauvery Board is a flawed one. Lawyers normally have a limited understanding of water issues. We have a lot of experience in India of tribunals delaying projects for decades. Some experts have suggested highly centralised systems of dispute resolution...

-The Hindu Business Line CM demands NREGA cover for farm labour Hyderabad: About 58 lakh farmers in Telangana will get a financial assistance of ?4,000 each for every acre of land they own under a programme launched by the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao today The State government has allocated ?12,000 crore for the scheme in the Budget for 2018-19. The farmers will get ?4,000 each an acre in the kharif and in...

-The Hindu Parched throats can bring down governments; hence leaders rush to claim credit for ‘water ATMs’ set up in villages Tumakuru/ Bagepalli (Karnataka): Early in 2016, in the grip of drought for the fourth straight year, people of Pathapalli were in a rage. Surrounded by barren flatlands and rocky hills along the Andhra Pradesh boundary, the village had been facing an acute drinking water shortage. The people went on a protest...

-News18.com In an interview with News18’s Rupashree Nanda, Dreze, who was a member of Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council and an architect of the National Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), says that there have been no major initiatives in the social field in the last four years, with the partial exception of Swachh Bharat. Government data reveal that the Indian economy is growing at a robust rate but noted economist Jean Dreze believes...