-Economic and Political Weekly The runaway growth in states of subsidised solar pumps, which provide quality energy at near-zero marginal cost, can pose a bigger threat of groundwater over-exploitation than free power has done so far. The best way to meet this threat is by paying farmers to "grow" solar power as a remunerative cash crop. Doing so can reduce pressure on aquifers, cut the subsidy burden on electricity companies, reduce...
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Farmers deplore cut in MGNREGS grant, plan campaign
-The Hindu They also demand continuation of old age pension DINDIGUL (Tamil Nadu): The All India Farmers' Association has strongly condemned the Central government's move to scale down allocation of grant for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the inordinate delay in settling old age pension (OAP) to beneficiaries. It has planned to campaign in all villages against the Centre from December 2 to 5 and lay a siege...
More »Activists and concerned citizens oppose budget cuts in social sector
-Press Release from Centre for Budget Analysis (CBGA) and Jan Awaaz New Delhi, 29 November 2014: There have been a number of media reports recently around possible cuts in Union Budget allocations for the current fiscal 2014-15 in case of social sector programmes, i.e. reductions in allocations in the Revised Estimates (RE) for 2014-15 as compared to the Budget Estimates (BE) that were made in July this year. This issue deserves...
More »Why Jharkhand Has Not Paid NREGA Wages in Months -Alok Pandey and Haribansh Sharma
-NDTV Ranchi: Launched in 2005 by the UPA government, the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act was intended to help the Poor by promising 100 days of work a year to rural households at a pre-determined minimum wage rate. In the last decade, there has been mixed opinion on the success of the initiative. But in the last few months, the central government has said it has plans to modify...
More »Chaiti Bai’s story and modern India -Krishna Kumar
-The Hindu The deaths of Chaiti Bai and other women after a botched tubectomy in Chhattisgarh are an opportunity to reflect on the problems India faces in the pursuit of modernity and global status, especially in health and education A sudden death always has great pedagogical value. The death of Chaiti Bai, a Baiga tribal woman, following a botched tubectomy at a mass sterilisation camp in Chhattisgarh recently, can improve our perspective...
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