-Livemint.com * A new research paints a mixed picture on the relative merits of Aadhaar-based biometric authentication in the PDS * The research highlight there can be several ways to authenticate beneficiaries in the public distribution system Since 2017, the Indian government has mandated the use of Aadhaar-based biometrics in India’s public distribution system (PDS) to tackle the longstanding issue of leakages. Critics, however, suggest that this has excluded many beneficiaries and increased...

-IndiaSpend.com Bangalore & New Delhi: About 42% of India’s land area is facing drought, with 6% exceptionally dry--four times the spatial extent of drought last year, according to data for the week ending March 26, 2019, from the Drought Early Warning System (DEWS), a real-time drought monitoring platform. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, karnataka, Maharashtra, parts of the North-East, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana are the worst hit. These states are home...

-TheWire.in The delta has shrunk by 20% because of diversion of land and climate change. Water-intensive agriculture and industrial practices are adding to the problem. Despite being one of the oldest water-regulator structures in the world that is still functional, the Kallanai dam or the Grand Anicut looks almost empty with not much water to regulate. Located near Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, it was built across river Kaveri around 2000 years ago...

  Growth in rural wages not only indicates economic prosperity of the masses, it is also considered important so as to generate effective demand for goods and services, which is produced by various sectors of the economy. When money becomes available in the hands of rural workers due to government spending on programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), it generates demand for commodities. The production of commodities...

-The Indian Express With effect from April 1, rural NREG labourers in six states and Union territories will see no annual increase in their daily wages this financial year while workers in another 15 states will get a daily wage hike of between Re 1 and Rs 5. New Delhi: For the year 2019-20, the Ministry of Rural Development notified state-wise wages for unskilled manual workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National...