-Newsclick.in The additional funds of Rs 6,084 crore released recently will go into clearing the backlog of pending liabilities. Contrary to the claims of highest ever allocation to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the social security scheme that aims to guarantee the right to work is facing severe fund crisis – with state governments left with no funds to pay workers. From October 2018 to February 1, no...

-Networkideas.org The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act that brought the MGNREGS into being was a unique piece of legislation in the history of independent India. It stipulated that employment was to be made available on demand, within a fortnight of being asked for, failing which an unemployment allowance had to be paid. True, its scope was confined only to rural areas, and it promised employment only up to 100 days per...

-TheNewsMinute.com According to Divya Iyer, Mission Director, the beneficiaries under the scheme helped restore several public assets, all of which were rendered useless after the floods. The Kerala floods were a watershed moment for the state and its people in every sense, some for the good and some for the worse. While it claimed several lives and destroyed properties, it also left several people looking for livelihood options. And post the...

-The Hindu Important bills were passed; but going forward there must be debate on the anti-defection law The 16th Lok Sabha had its final sitting last Wednesday, marking an end to a disappointing five-year period. This Lok Sabha was surpassed only by the preceding one in terms of the low number of hours it worked. It met for 1,615 hours, 40% lower than all full-term Parliaments. This shows a decline in the...

-The Hindu Employment opportunities, formal jobs and the labour force are all shrinking The jobs situation in India does not reflect a crisis, but it is a matter of serious concern. A crisis is understood as an emergency that demands immediate attention, without which we could see a calamity of sorts. There is no immediate calamity of any kind on hand. But there is a deeply insidious problem at work in the...