-PTI Amidst opposition in several quarters to its plan to tweak the rural job scheme, NDA government on Thursday asserted that it would go ahead with MGNREGA reforms as it charged that the flagship programme of the previous UPA regime "was allowed to be exploited for purely partisan purposes". "The tendencies of acquiring easy money and using government funds for political party promotion could be curbed only when a spirited team of...

-The Hindu Agroforestry promotes productive cropping environments, prevents deforestation, protects watersheds and enables agricultural land to withstand extreme weather events Growing trees on farms is a triple-win strategy for combating simultaneously the challenges of increasing food production, mitigating greenhouse gases and adapting to climate change. It is an instrument of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), catapulted to centre-stage by President Obama's launch of the Global Alliance for CSA at the World Climate Summit on...

-The Business Standard In July, India had clarified it wouldn't ratify a trade facilitation agreement until a permanent solution on food security was arrived at A day before the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s trade negotiations committee meets in Geneva, India on Wednesday said during the negotiations, it would stick to its stand on food security. Speaking to reporters here, Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Our position remains intact...we will underline the...

-Livemint Lack of data makes it hard to draw firm conclusions from the hunger index Child malnutrition is a national shame. The loud debates about this issue have often drowned out the nuances. Millions of Indian children are malnourished because of a combination of factors ranging from poverty to poor sanitation to inadequate use of micronutrients to lack of gender rights. The latest global hunger index released by the International Food Policy...

-The Indian Express As leading economists urged the Prime Minister not to dilute the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme saying it provides economic security to millions, Union Minister for Rural Development Nitin Gadkari justified the Centre's decision to restrict the focus of the job scheme to the "most backward and needy" districts and reduce the labour-material ratio from 60:40 to 51:49. Denying any move to reduce compensation for lack of...