-The Indian Express Before contemplating new rural programmes, government must expand MGNREGA In the run up to the elections, a plethora of redistributive programmes, including farm loan waivers, cash transfers and minimum income guarantees came to the forefront as campaigners sought to balm rural distress. Amongst these is a proposal to launch a revised NREGA 3.0, in which 150 days of employment would be guaranteed to the rural poor. Almost 15...

-The Indian Express Home to some 400 Santhals, an indigenous tribe, Mahuadanr has a cemented road, but most of the house are made of mud, with few pucca houses. The village faces an “acute water shortage” in summers and locals barely eat nutritious food. Dumka: In Jharkhand’s Mahuadanr village, which falls under the Anansol Kuruwa panchayat in the Dumka Lok Sabha constituency, JMM party chief Shibu Soren — the sitting MP...

-The Indian Express At Rs 199 a day, the Central government-notified MGNREGA wage rate for Rajasthan is Rs 26 less than the state’s minimum wage. Banswara, Bhilwara, Jaipur, Udaipur (Rajasthan): For four years, Pista Sargara (55), a long-standing job card holder under the MGNREGA, approached her panchayat office in Bhilwara Lok Sabha constituency desperate for any work under the scheme. She was turned away each time. The turnaround came in January...

-The Hindu MACHILIPATNAM (Andhra Oradesh): A group of 10 unsung volunteers has helped almost 2,000 fellow Yanadi tribal people to enrol as voters, enabling them to exercise their right to franchise in the general elections 2019. A nomadic tribe, the Yanadi in Krishna district have constantly been on the move in search of livelihood opportunities from one season to the next. With a large number of families living in the mangrove forests...

  The budgetary allocation for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) as a proportion of total budgetary expenditure has been reduced marginally during the Interim Budget 2019-20. It may have happened because the coverage of gross cropped area under the scheme could not keep pace with the target that was set during the last two years. The Status of Implementation of Budget Announcements 2017-18, which was presented during the Union Budget 2018-19,...