-The Hindu The Modi government is determined to dismantle the two-pronged welfare paradigm. It is now an established fact that one area where the Narendra Modi administration has acted with a sense of purpose, urgency and resolve is in slashing social expenditure. Be it education, health, agriculture, livelihood security, food security, panchayati raj institutions, drinking water or the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes sub-plan, central government funds earmarked for social protection have been cut. The...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The cup that cheers proved to be hotter than expected for the government today as it came under pressure to amend a central act to regularise wages of tea labourers. Congress MP from Assam Pankaj Bora demanded a timeframe within which the government would amend the Plantations Labour Act to ensure protection for tea garden workers. The question came up in the Rajya Sabha when labour and employment minister...

-The Indian Express The Bharat Krishak Samaj (BSK) has long urged the merger of the agriculture ministry with the water resources and rural development ministries, in the interests of better coordination. With cooperative federalism gaining currency as an idea, that might just become possible. Now, the panchayati raj and food processing ministries could join the club, leaving agriculture, for all practical purposes, to the states, as envisaged by the Constitution. But...

-Outlook New Delhi: There is no central programme as popular as MNREGA; this was some state governments' message to the Centre as they conveyed their displeasure over the fund crunch for the scheme. On the occasion of 10th MNREGA Divas celebrations today, these states narrated how the rural job scheme did "exceptionally well" in the insurgency-hit areas of the country particularly in the northeast and Naxal-affected districts. The northeastern states conveyed their difficulties...

-The Hindustan Times Jaipur (Rajasthan): The state government has decided to follow the Madhya Pradesh model of sustainable livelihood by convergence in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). This was decided at a review meeting of panchayati raj (PR) and rural development (RD) departments by the chief minister. "We saw their presentation in the meeting of Union minister Birendra Singh on December 16 in Jaipur in which RD heads...