-The Indian Express There is evidence to suggest that with a few modifications, MGNREGA can dent poverty. There are few government programmes that excite as much passion as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). For advocates, it is a lifeline for the rural Poor. For critics, it is a programme that distorts labour markets and does far more harm than good. In this partisan quicksand, it is hard to...

-BBC Pollution soared to hazardous levels in Delhi on the night of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, reaching 40 times the limit recommended by the World Health Organisation, reports say. Massive quantities of fireworks go up in smoke during the festival. On Wednesday night, the levels of PM10 particulates, which are very hazardous to health, rose to 2,000 micrograms per cubic metre, reports said. The WHO recommends a maximum of 50 micrograms per...

-Down to Earth From providing agricultural information for specific countries to identifying trends in the sector, censuses serve a variety of purpose In the backdrop of a round of country-driven agricultural censuses which will begin in 2016 to gather information and statistics on the global agriculture sector, senior FAO statiscian Jairo Castano discusses with Down To Earth the importance of the exercise. * How helpful are agricultural censuses in gathering information and statistics...

-IANS NEW DELHI: Pollution levels have reached "alarming" levels in Delhi even before Diwali and could touch "scary" heights after the festival on Wednesday, an environment watchdog said on Tuesday. Diwali, the festival of lights, has been increasingly adding tonnes of toxic smoke to the city's air in recent years because of the extensive use of firecrackers, leading to major health issues. This year the pollution levels could cross previous levels, experts warned. One...

-Reuters India's villages face a sharp spike in food prices in 2016, as a second year of drought drives up the cost of ingredients such as sugar and milk, and Poor transport infrastructure stops falling global prices from reaching rural areas.  India's first back-to-back drought in three decades also complicates government spending calculations as Prime Minister Narendra Modi tries to prune a subsidy regime that has long propped up the rural economy,...