-Press release by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 1 April, 2018 Hours after NREGA Sangharsh Morcha wrote an open letter (please click here to access) to the Rural Development Minister demanding notification of revised MGNREGA wage rates for 2018-19, the Ministry issued the employment guarantee act wage rates for the new financial year.   Wage rates have not increased for some of the poorest states of the country – Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar...

-The Hindu Irrigation supply stopped on March 15; drinking water is also inadequate AHMEDABAD: Summer has just set in but Gujarat is already facing a water shortage. And it will only worsen in the next two months as the State’s main water sources like the Narmada dam, and dozens of other dams and reservoirs, are going dry. Ironically, Gujarat is faced with the crisis despite copious rains last monsoon. The government has assured...

-The Hindu Farming must be treated as a market-based enterprise and made viable on its own terms The week-long farmers’ march which reached Mumbai earlier this month, on the anniversary of Gandhi’s Dandi March of 1930, was unprecedented in many ways. It was mostly silent and disciplined, mostly leaderless, non-disruptive and non-violent, and well organised. It received the sympathy of middle class city dwellers, food and water from bystanders, free medical services...

-PTI "Gujarat's achievements in education and health are not like those in other areas like industrialisation, infrastructure and energy....it lags behind in these two (health and education). I talked about this with the state government," Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said. Gandhinagar: Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Sunday said that while Gujarat has done very well in industrialisation, it will need to do some catching-up in the health...

-The Indian Express Several commissions were either not functioning or functioning at reduced capacity as posts of Commissioners, including those of Chief Information Commissioners, were vacant during the period under review. A recent study to assess the performance of Information Commissions (ICs) by non-government organisations Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) and Centre for Equity Studies (CES) has found several shortcomings in their functioning, which impact the effectiveness of the Right to Information...