-The Hindu The National Food Security Act is finally making headway in the poorest States. Amplified by reforms in the Public Distribution System, a modicum of nutritional support and economic security to all vulnerable households is now a real possibility. Dhobargram is a small Santhal village in Bankura district of West Bengal, with 100 households or so. Most of them are poor, or even very poor, by any plausible standard. There are...
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Give highest priority to rural job guarantee scheme in Budget, eminent citizens tell Jaitley
-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: Ahead of the Budget, eminent citizens across the country have written an open letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley requesting him to accord “highest priority” to the rural job guarantee scheme, MGNREGA, and allocate additional ₹5,000 crore to the Ministry of Rural Development. “Subsequent Budget estimations and allocations to the programme must be brought in line with inflation; be measured and maintained as a percentage of...
More »Civil society urges more resources for social sector
Representatives of around 20 civil society organizations and NGOs met the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley as part of pre-budget consultation on social sector on 12 January, 2016. Immediately after the pre-budget consultation, a press conference was held by some of these organizations to convey the media persons what demands/ suggestions were made. Subrat Das, Executive Director of Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA, http://www.cbgaindia.org/) informed us that during...
More »New crop insurance scheme will reduce premium 10-fold, ensure faster payouts -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com The move is an attempt by the government to stem rural distress as farmers are facing three successive crop failures due to inclement weather conditions New Delhi: The Central government is expected to launch a new crop insurance scheme for which the rate of premium paid by farmers will be about a tenth of existing rates. The move is an attempt by the government to stem rural distress as farmers are...
More »Punjab ‘emptying’ reservoirs to grow water-guzzling rice -Gurpreet Singh Nibber
-Hindustan Times Chandigarh: First, the good news. Punjab has made a record contribution of rice to the central pool. During the 2015-16 crop season, the state contributed 93.5 lakh tonnes to the public distribution system (PDS). Now, the bad news. To grow one kilogram of rice, as many as 5,337 litres of water is required ‑ more than 260 buckets of 20-litre capacity. The water consumed by rice for the central pool...
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