The government has enhanced credit to the agriculture sector by Rs 1 lakh crore in the Budget but the pressure to meet the target has been showing on the bottom lines. All government banks are reporting an increase in their bad debts on farms loans ranging between 80% and 2000% in the first nine months of 2010-11. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur reported the highest increase in non-performing assets...

This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order...

The workers covered under the purview of the scheme now will be drawing wages at Rs. 119 a day A section of society feels that the works assigned will be of no use The increase in the wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) that came into effect in the district a few days ago has evoked varied response n the district. The workers covered under the purview of...

Cash transfers cannot and should not replace the public provision of essential goods and services, but rather supplement them. Cash transfers are the latest fad of the international development industry, as the preferred strategy for poverty reduction. And now Indian policymakers are busy catching up. The idea was mooted in the Government's Economic Survey for 2010-11, and the Finance Minister made an explicit announcement in his budget speech for replacing some...

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented Budget 2011-12 in Parliament on Monday promising to stimulate growth and bring down inflation. Admitting that food inflation remains a matter of concern, Pranab said that the economy could have performed better. He said that the development needs to be more inclusive while announcing increased outlay on social sector schemes. "Total food inflation is down from 20.2 per cent last year to 9.3 per cent...