-Live Mint Charges that NREGA has pushed up agricultural wages fails to account for changing productivity In the debate over the costs and benefits of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), one of the most controversial and unsettled issues is its effect on agricultural labour market. Last year, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar even went to the extent of recommending a 50% subsidy to farmers in wage costs due...

-The Times of India SURI: A clash between farmers and policemen at the site of a mining project in Birbhum left 37 people injured on Tuesday and conjured up images of Nandigram, opening a new frontier in Bengal's bloody land battles. The protesters alleged police opened fire when they refused to let them take away earth-moving equipment brought in by a coal mining company. The equipment was stranded at the site after...

-Outlook Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today assured that the state government will provide all possible help to flood affected farmers. Reddy arrived at the Gannavaram airport this morning as part of his aerial Survey in flood affected districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh. Both regular and tenant farmers will be paid compensation for the loss of their crops, Reddy assured. He said that he will discuss with the Food Corporation of...

-The Indian Express A report submitted in the Supreme Court on Friday indicted the Maharashtra government and Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan over a “close nexus between politicians, contractors and bureaucrats,” facilitating extensive wrongdoings in supply of supplementary nutrition to children through the Central government-sponsored Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). The report, prepared by the principal adviser to SC-appointed Commissioner Biraj Patnaik, also highlighted that in Uttar Pradesh, supply of supplementary nutrition has...

-The Hindustan Times Mumbai: The Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), a women's group, plans to write to the state authorities over the restricted entry to women at dargahs in the city. A group of women from the organisation had visited the Haji Ali shrine in August. The ban over the entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum triggered their Survey. Of the 20 city dargahs visited in September, seven did not allow...