-Hindkisan.com Alarmingly, despite wages paid under MGNREGA being much lower than the standard minimum wage in most states, increasing number of people from rural households are applying for jobs under the employment scheme. This trend is an indicator of the mounting distress in the rural economy which is aggravated by paucity of jobs. Mocking the economic condition of the distressed rural working community, the Union Government has decided to uphold the low...

-Hindustan Times The agriculture ministry has started a new programme to focus on millets or coarse cereal production, mostly grown by small and poor farmers New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government has decided to include millets in the public distribution system for which it is procuring these grains at federally fixed minimum support prices, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said. The agriculture ministry has started a new programme to focus on millets or...

-The Indian Express In the worst wage revision in the history of the rural employment guarantee scheme, that started in 2006, MGNREGA workers in 10 states will get no hike in their wages for FY 2018-19, according to the revised wage rates issued by the Union government. In the worst wage revision in the history of the rural employment guarantee scheme, that started in 2006, MGNREGA workers in 10 states will get...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Criticising the apathy of states and Union Territories toward prisoners' human rights in overcrowded jails, the Supreme Court warned directors general of prisons of contempt of court action if they failed to submit plans within two weeks to decongest jails, which were packed to 150% of their capacity, and in one case at 609%. Referring to overcrowding of jails, for which the SC has been unsuccessfully...

-The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy Menstrual hygiene, an essential building block of a woman’s health, suffers wanton neglect in India’s public discourse. Though public policies are in place, the progress made by India’s government, private, and civil society sectors is not in sync with the nation’s aspiration to be a global economic superpower. R. Sujatha, consultant on gender issues, and R. Gopinath, development economist, critique the steps taken,...