-Business Standard Even as country stares at a possible drought, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has hit a new low At a time when rural India is in distress, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which could have provided some relief, is itself facing its worst period ever. The number of people working under the scheme and the amount of work provided is dwindling, and the trend...

Social justice is one of the basic pillars of democracy. But when it comes to livelihood security and socio-economic status of various communities in rural areas, persons belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) lag far behind the upper caste population. This has been revealed in a recent National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) report entitled: Employment and Unemployment Situation among Social Groups in India...

-The Indian Express As the toll of human misery and suicide mounts, official estimates of farm losses due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms in March remain controversial, with hasty downward revision. Since these estimates are largely notional, without validation from field visits, such revision smacks of deliberate fiddling. On March 24, the agriculture ministry reported that crops on 18 million hectares — about 30 per cent of the rabi crops —...

-The New Indian Express If the Government of India writes off the Handloom Reservation Act, more than one lakh weavers in Telangana and AP will be affected, fears All India Federation of Handloom Organisations   The handloom sector which is one of the biggest is always caught in the vicious cycle of low demand, massive unemployment, dwindling incomes and starvation deaths. This time, the problem has been compounded by the Government of India...

-IANS The NHRC on Tuesday said it has rescued 101 bonded labourers from Madhubani in Bihar, after an NGO complained they were being made to work forcefully on agricultural lands and not being paid minimum wages. The 101 labourers from 38 families were Musahars, a community classified as Scheduled Caste. The rescue operation was carried out following a complaint received from an NGO in December 2014. The labourers have been provided relief under various...