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...
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World Bank: NREGA, the only insurance for India
-The Hindu The World Bank said on Tuesday that the spike in ‘unmet demand’ for MGNREGA jobs is an indicator of increasing rural distress. Since the scheme is the only and therefore the best bet India has for mitigating the impact on the poor of the recent unseasonal rains, the government should take steps aimed at arresting delays in wage payments and the rising unmet demand for jobs. “If you are a...
More »If you want to help the farmer -Vani S Kulkarni, Katsushi S Imai and Raghav Gaiha
-The Indian Express As the toll of human misery and suicide mounts, official estimates of farm losses due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms in March remain controversial, with hasty downward revision. Since these estimates are largely notional, without validation from field visits, such revision smacks of deliberate fiddling. On March 24, the agriculture ministry reported that crops on 18 million hectares — about 30 per cent of the rabi crops —...
More »Decline in number of workdays under MGNREGA: Government
-PTI NEW DELHI: The number of workdays being provided under the rural job flagship scheme MGNREGA has registered a decline, Lok Sabha was informed today. Minister of State for Rural Development Sudarshan Bhagat, in a written reply to Lok Sabha, said "there has been a decline in the number of persondays created in 2014-15." "MGNREGA is a demand driven programme and the demand for work itself is influenced by various factors such as...
More »Rebooting the rural jobs scheme -Himanshu
-Livemint.com At a time when rural economy is badly in need of stimulus, the least the govt can do is increase spending on MGNREGA It is now officially acknowledged that the rural economy is heading for a distress situation. As if the fall in crop prices was not sufficient, the situation of farmers in India has been compounded by the vagaries of the monsoon with less than normal rainfall last year...
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