-The Times of India INDORE: After LPG subsidy, Union government has made Aadhaar card mandatory for job applicants under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The move, however, is being criticized by activists. "MGNREGA Management Information System (MIS) is refusing to accept work demand or generate musters for workers unless Aadhaar number is mentioned," said Madhuri from Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan. Terming it latest effort of government to derail MGNREGA, Madhuri...

Amidst brouhaha over the importance of MGNREGA, the recently released 68th Round National Sample Survey (NSS) report clears the air whether the MGNREGA had been beneficial to employment of persons from Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Based on a survey of nearly 59,700 households in rural areas of India, the NSS 68th Round data shows that the proportion of persons who got job in...

-The Indian Express Unseasonal rains are breaking the back of Indian farmers. The prime minister has taken the first step by deciding to raise the existing norms of compensation by a hefty 50 per cent - from the existing Rs 9,000 per hectare for irrigated crop, Rs 4,500 per ha for unirrigated crop and Rs 12,000 per ha for perennial crop. Further, the compensation will be given to all those who...

-Economic and Political Weekly Much has been claimed on behalf of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act that has been enacted by Parliament, but the legislation has introduced a watered-down version of auctions, has many exceptions to legalise the old first-cum-firstserve approach, and ignores previous Supreme Court rulings on measures to ensure sustainable development. E A S Sarma (eassarma@gmail.com) is a former Union Power Secretary. With a brute majority in...

-Economic and Political Weekly Unlimited growth for prosperity in a fi nite planet is not possible. Ecological economists like Tim Jackson, Peter Victor, and others talk about prosperity without growth and highlight the need for greening the economy on a community scale. Using the "criteria of green economy enterprise" set by Jackson and Victor as a tool, this article looks at khadi production, India's community-level cloth production system. Sumanas Koulagi (k.sumanas@yahoo.in) is...