-The Financial Express The proposed MGNREGA changes can help plug the leakages and enhance agriculture productivity There is good news about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme. Recent press reports reveal that the rural development minister, Nitin Gadkari, has instructed lowering of the mandatory share for unskilled wages in total expenditure from the current 60% to 51%. He has also directed, quite rightly, that 50% of the expenditure be...

-IANS Barmer (Rajasthan): Drought-like conditions are forcing villagers residing along the India-Pakistan border in the desert state of Rajasthan to migrate in search of greener pastures. If local NGOs are to be believed, over 100 villages situated in Barmer district are facing a severe Water and fodder crisis. "Much of the population living in this part of the state is dependent on animal husbandry. With no Water for them to drink, forget...

-The Hindu Agroforestry promotes productive cropping environments, prevents deforestation, protects Watersheds and enables agricultural land to withstand extreme weather events Growing trees on farms is a triple-win strategy for combating simultaneously the challenges of increasing food production, mitigating greenhouse gases and adapting to climate change. It is an instrument of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), catapulted to centre-stage by President Obama's launch of the Global Alliance for CSA at the World Climate Summit on...

-DNA Algebra and English have been just some of the stumbling blocks for the young girls of Dharavi. But that didn't stop them from developing prototype apps to resolve the daily problems that plague their neighbourhood, finds Marisha Karwa Sapna's hair is neatly parted at the centre, each side braided into a double plait, tightly held in place at the top by red, organza ribbons. The Class 9 student of Mahim's...

-The Times of India JAIPUR: The paradox could not be greater. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which had its genesis in the mass movements launched in Rajasthan, is now facing a dilution in its home state. The Union rural development ministry is likely to amend the provisions of MGNREGA, converting it to just a scheme and thereby threatening to rob it of its es sence. In Rajasthan, such an...