-Hindustan Times Government’s decision is aimed to cut dependence of small and marginal farmers on usurious informal private lenders. The government has streamlined lending norms in schemes such as the Kisan Credit Card to boost institutional credit flow to small and marginal farmers who make up over 90% of people engaged in agriculture and, as a class, are highly vulnerable to risks. The aim is to cut their dependence on usurious...

-Hindustan Times In the last few days, fuel prices have touched record highs, with petrol costing Rs 76.87 per litre in Delhi and diesel Rs 68.08 a litre. In the last nine days, the price of petrol has risen by Rs 2.24 and diesel by Rs 2.15. New Delhi: Fuel prices are likely to be slashed by Rs 2 to Rs 4 in the next few days and a decision will...

-The New Indian Epxress NEW DELHI: Any delay in paying the wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is "simply not acceptable" and red-tape cannot be "pedalled" as an excuse to deny payment to the workers, the Supreme Court said today. The court, while noting that the Centre has admitted delay in payment of wages, said the payments to the workers must be transferred to them immediately, failing...

-The Indian Express Women form 80 per cent of urban migrants, but public policy is blind to their concerns. A recent UN report says India is on the “brink of an urban revolution”, as its population in towns and cities are expected to reach 600 million by 2031. Fuelled by migration, megacities of India (Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata) will be among the largest urban concentrations in the world. Interestingly, the 2011 Census...

-IANS New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre, in consultation with states, to prepare an "urgent time bound mandatory programme" to make the payment of wages and compensation to the workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). A bench of Justice M.B. Lokur and Justice N.V. Ramana made it clear and directed that in terms of the MGNREGA and Schedule II thereof a "worker is...