-Business Standard A clear picture is likely to emerge only towards the end of June Mumbai: rural distress owing to heavy unseasonal rains in March and the prospects of less-than-normal monsoon have made bankers “a cautious lot” at the start of this financial year. However, it is too early to conclude that the impact of rains, or the lack of it, would be bad. According to public sector bank executives, the assessment for...

-IPS News NAYAGARH (IPS): Kama Pradhan, a 35-year-old tribal woman, her eyes intent on the glowing screen of a hand-held GPS device, moves quickly between the trees. Ahead of her, a group of men hastens to clear away the brambles from stone pillars that stand at scattered intervals throughout this dense forest in the Nayagarh district of India’s eastern Odisha state. The heavy stone markers, laid down by the British 150 years...

A recent press release from the Ministry of Agriculture shows that the area affected by recent rains and hailstorms is estimated to be 189.81 lakh hectares (on 24 April 2015), which is nearly double the total area affected that was earlier estimated on 16 April 2015. (See the link below). Experts argue that such extreme weather events may severely damage food economy of the nation, apart from breaking the spirit...

-Livemint.com The rural jobs scheme will be cost-effective only if assets created are of sufficient value to the poor, says bank New Delhi: Unless India’s rural job guarantee scheme can be turned around to create valuable assets, transferring cash directly to intended beneficiaries could reduce poverty faster, the World Bank said on Tuesday, joining an ongoing debate on the effectiveness of the Mahatma Gandhi National rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). In its...

-The Hindu With unseasonal rain laying waste vast areas under the rabi crop in north India earlier this year and the threat of a deficient monsoon looming, the Mahatma Gandhi National rural Employment Guarantee Scheme could act as a real salve for distressed farm workers and labourers. The World Bank’s brief statement on the scheme on Tuesday to this effect, as part of its latest India Development Update, concurs with recent...