Poor, pregnant with third child? Even the state’s giving up on you. Why Less For More     * The ministry of health and family welfare wants to target poor, pregnant women with more than two children, take away entitlements and benefits     * Critics say the two-child norm will severely restrict the number of beneficiaries of the Janani Suraksha Yojana scheme. The scheme, launched in 2005, has been a great success.     *...

-PTI   To press for farmers' demands, including pension and interest free loan, Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha would launch a nation-wide stir on September 1. "On September 1 demonstrations of farmers would be organised across the country to press for six point charter of demands," ABKS general secretary Atul Kumar Anjan told reporters here today. The main demand includes pension to farmers at the age of 60 years by the Centre and the...

Government is expected to unveil new guidelines for its flagship rural employment scheme, which will have a special focus on naxal-affected areas and stress on skill development. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said the new guidelines will give authorities greater flexibility in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme. Addressing a meeting of Parliamentary Consultative Committee on MGNREGA here, Ramesh said complaints have come mainly from states like...

State governments have been asked to roll out the model in which payments would be made through bio-metric authentication at the village level For speedy disbursal of payments to workers under the flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the ministry of Rural Development has decided to introduce the business correspondence model, to be followed by banks. State governments have been asked to roll out the model in which payments...

The past couple of months have seen a renewed attack on the National Advisory Council (NAC). The NAC has been decried as an unconstitutional, undemocratic, “super-cabinet” where unaccountable “jholawalas” hatch harebrained schemes guaranteed to run the government aground. Another line of criticism has focused on the process of the formation of the NAC, its space within the Indian Constitution, and its capacity to influence policy. The two criticisms merge with...