-The Hindu Business Line     Facing criticism for rising prices, the Modi Government has blamed public expenditure on schemes such as MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) for fuelling food inflation. Curiously, the BJP wants the job scheme to continue, with the focus mainly on agriculture. According to the agenda note circulated for Friday's Conference of State Food Ministers with the Centre, food inflation is caused by both demand and supply...

-Economic and Political Weekly     Sustained and focused efforts have to be made by the Tamil Nadu state government to provide relief and rehabilitation to the drought affected people of the state. S Rajendran (myrajendran@gmail.com) is with the Department of Economics, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu. Due to the failure of the north-east monsoon in December 2013, Tamil Nadu is witnessing drought like conditions this year, leading to poor agricultural productivity, rural distress,...

-PTI   Munde said proper implementation of the land acquisition Act and providing every household with sanitation and drinking water will be his priority   New Delhi: Narendra Modi government will restructure United Progressive Alliance's flagship programme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by linking employment with development in rural areas and "rigorously" implementing the new land acquisition law.   Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gopinath Munde, who took over as the minister...

-The Telegraph   New Delhi: Jharkhand's blooming lotus has a not-so-hidden thorny challenge.   The state, which has rewarded the BJP and the Narendra Modi government with 12 MPs, has also thrown the new Gopinath Munde-headed rural development minister a MGNREGS zinger. Along with Odisha and Bihar, Jharkhand is at the bottom of the bucket list of states as far as the actual expenditure of funds under the national job guarantee scheme goes. In each of...

-Down to Earth   Officials admit that MGNREGS and rural road development programmes suffered shortcomings in UPA regime Senior officials of ministry of rural development have gone into a huddle following questions regarding the performance of various ministries thrown by Narendra Modi, who will take oath as prime minister on May 26. The cabinet secretary has asked secretaries of different ministries to prepare a power point presentation on why benefits from a number of...