-Hindustan Times If Indian cities have become successful in turning away migrants, we should see that as the first sign of their demise, not their dynamism. “Stop migration into cities.” These were the words of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman during last week’s budget speech, even as she — confusingly — called urbanization an “opportunity rather than a challenge.” A call to stop rural-urban migration should alarm, but not surprise us. The FM’s statement...

-Press statement by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 19 July, 2019 While it is heartening that a discussion on rural development lasted for nine hours in Parliament with important issues on MGNREGA being raised, we are deeply disappointed at the statement of the Rural Development Minister that not only displays a lack of understanding of the program but also betrays the clear anti-poor sentiment of this government. On the central issue of inadequate...

-The Telegraph Labour minister Santosh Gangwar said that Rs 178 would be the minimum wage New Delhi: An existing tripartite advisory committee of employers, employees’ unions and state government officials will determine a national-level minimum wage that will be binding on all states after the passage of a draft law, the Centre said on Wednesday. Labour minister Santosh Gangwar had last week said that the government would table a Code on Wages Bill...

-The Indian Express According to the global MPI 2019 report released Thursday, between 2005-06 and 2015-16, India, lifted 271 million out of poverty, significantly reducing deprivations in many of the ten indicators, particularly in “assets, cooking fuel, sanitation and nutrition”. India has registered the fastest absolute reduction in the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) value among ten countries, spanning every developing region, whose combined population is two billion people. And Jharkhand is...

-Newsclick.in The state would promote collective farming which is done by various co-operatives and community networks like Kudumbashree. Pointing towards Contract Farming, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, in conference of State Agriculture Ministers in Delhi, has said that farming can become profitable if small and marginal farmers are given access to technological solutions and research. However, the Agriculture Minister of Kerala, VS Sunil Kumar opposed government’s plan to accelerate Contract Farming...