The reduced allocation to the UPA government’s flagship rural programme NREGA could see revenue growth in the FMCG sector falter. Consumer staples firms have been relying on rural demand growth to bolster their top line but the reduced allocation to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) for the financial year 2012-13 could see growth in FMCG sales in rural areas being crimped feel industry experts. Finance minister Pranab...

-The Telegraph The controversial poverty data from the Planning Commission has a message for Mamata Banerjee: the Marxists have brought down the number of destitute in Bengal but much more needs to be done. Latest data suggest that the number of poor has dipped by 7.5 percentage points in Bengal between 2004-05 and 2009-10, which covers the last five years of Left rule in the state. Poverty in urban areas in Bengal came...

-IANS   States should be allowed to declare an off period for the rural jobs scheme MGNREGA during peak agricultural season, says Sumitra Mahajan, chief of a parliamentary panel on rural development. She also believes extending the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to urban areas - as suggested by the Economic Survey last week - is not practicable unless the scheme is made to include semi-skilled work apart from manual...

In this year's budget, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has essentially tried to consolidate the gains from the initiatives he had launched during the previous two budgets. Thus, in agriculture there is no new initiative except increasing the target for agricultural credit to Rs.5,75,000 crore during 2012-13. This represents an increase of over Rs.1,00,000 crore from last year. The interest rate of four per cent recommended by the National Commission...

-IANS   Calling for effective measures to improve the efficiency of social sector programmes, the Economic Survey for 2011-12 has suggested extending the government's ambitious rural jobs scheme to urban areas, strengthening panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and skill improvement for enhanced employability. The survey, which was presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament Thursday, said that programmes like Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) have been instrumental in creating employment...