-The Business Standard   Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Karnataka have shown high-growth momentum in agricultural foodgrain production during the last five years and have the potential to contribute significantly to India’s foodgrain basket. The share of these low-foodgrain yielding states in the total foodgrain production of India have improved from 17.4 per cent to 19 per cent during 2002-06 period over 2007-11 period. However, the contribution of the states with high-yield foodgrain production like...

The Centre is likely to raise remuneration under its rural job guarantee scheme and align it with the notified minimum wages of states following a court order last month.  Millions of workers enrolled under the government’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) are entitled . 100 a day for a minimum of 100 days of work in a year. Despite the wage now being linked to the consumer price...

Every eighth urban child in India in the age-group of 0-6 years stays in slums, according to ‘Slums in India – A statistical compendium 2011' published by the Union government. “... about 7.6 million children are living in slums in India and they constitute 13.1 per cent of the total child population of the urban areas of the 26 States/ Union Territories reporting slums,” the report compiled by the National Buildings...

The Centre is likely to pay minimum wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in compliance with the recent Karnataka High Court ruling upholding the supremacy of the Minimum Wages Act (MWA) over the MGNREGA. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has taken a decision favouring payment of minimum wages for agricultural workers as notified by the States as MGNREGA wages. He told The...

-ANI   Expressing concern over the excess female and infant mortality rates in various states of the country, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has said that economic growth does not necessarily translate into gender equality.  "Economic growth does not automatically ensure gender equality. In fact, it is a very tenuous relationship between and I have something to say about this in the Indian context, but I think it is a very salutary finding...