Although MGNREGA has been looked upon with suspicion by the Government, industry as well as the landed farming class for various reasons including inefficiency, leakages, corruption, rise in rural wages, cost escalation etc., a new report reveals that the programme reduced poverty among its participants between 2004-05 and 2011-12 by providing employment. The report entitled Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: A Catalyst for Rural Transformation has estimated that...

-The Times of India Neetu Meena, 16, in a pale blue uniform, wants to become a nurse. She is the first girl in her family to get this far at school. Schooling is not only free, she gets a scholarship and a bike to come in to the senior secondary government school in Jhar village, Bassi, near Jaipur. At the school, a blackboard lists about twenty schemes, from special scholarships for girls,...

-The Times of India JAIPUR: Eight villages in the arid regions of western Rajasthan are fast progressing towards sustainable development by venturing into growing Shankhpushpi, a medicinal herb which is scientifically proven to enhance memory and brainpower. Situated in the arid region with annual rainfall less than sufficient even for one crop in a year, the farmers grows traditional crops Bajra, Guar and Moth that have less commodity value. Until recently, they...

-The Hindu Whether it was required of the Attorney General to question the citizen’s right to privacy to defend the legality of Aadhaar is indeed questionable as the constitutional status of this right has been decisively answered in successive and lucidly articulated judgments This piece seeks to contest the Attorney-General’s somewhat startling assertion before the Supreme Court that Indians do not have a constitutional right to privacy. This is the background. Posed the...

-Livemint.com Effective policy changes at the state-level are needed as this is where the problem and its solutions lie—and not in a National Agricultural Market There have been many attempts at alleviating the pain of the farmer in India, be it natural calamities or market risks, but nothing seems to work, and the problems of farmer distress and indebtedness continue to grow. For some time now, there has been a focus...