--The Indian Express PMGSY was rolled out in 2000 to provide access to all-weather roads in 1.78 lakh rural habitations across the country. New Delhi: A recent independent World Bank assessment of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) rural roads programme meant to establish ‘farm to market connectivity’ shows that the PMGSY roads, in fact, “triggered a shift from farm to non-farm employment” in the habitations studied between 2009 and...

-Press statement by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 19 July, 2019 While it is heartening that a discussion on rural development lasted for nine hours in Parliament with important issues on MGNREGA being raised, we are deeply disappointed at the statement of the Rural Development Minister that not only displays a lack of understanding of the program but also betrays the clear anti-poor sentiment of this government. On the central issue of inadequate...

-The Hindu Without factoring in agriculture, the vision of a $5-trillion economy will remain a distant dream India’s dream of becoming a $5-trillion economy by 2024 is now in the open with a ‘blue sky’ vision envisaged in the Economic Survey this year. The document lays down a clear strategy to augment the growth of key sectors by shifting gears as the current economic conditions are smooth in terms of macroeconomic stability...

-The Telegraph The Code on Wages Bill would have no implications for the rural job guarantee scheme New Delhi: The minimum wage to be stipulated under a proposed central law will not apply to unskilled labourers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the government said on Wednesday. Labour minister Santosh Gangwar and rural development minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Code on Wages Bill would have no implications for the...

-The Hindu Earlier confined largely to the organised sector, it has now spread to other areas, as revealed by the latest survey results The findings of the latest employment survey, called the Periodic Labour Force Survey (2017-18), are a cause for concern as the scenario is still far from anything that would denote decent employment. The two biggest issues here are: the shrinking share of the labour force; and the rising unemployment. The...