-Outlook   Koraput (Odisha): Many labourers engaged under the centrally-sponsored Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Odisha's Koraput district alleged that 334 of them have not received wages though six months had passed since the end of their work. The labourers from Podai Khodra, Joba, Bagkhodra and Golariguda villages under Boipariguda block's Kathpada panchayat constructed an 8 km road between Mantriambo and Joba. The road work was completed in November 2013. "Each...

-Live Mint   The Musahar communities of eastern UP and Bihar have been unable to escape the trap of desperate poverty India has been conspicuously less successful than many other emerging economies in the scale, speed and depth of its reversal of poverty. But many scholars say that whatever one's measures of poverty, young people on an average have better educational and economic prospects today than those of their parents and grandparents. They...

-DNA   Farming is considered a patriotic enterprise, and nearly half of India's labour force is engaged in agriculture and allied activities. Almost everyone believes that in the election season, political parties should pledge to aid this patriotic endeavor to feed the nation. But, farming is a risky profession, and agricultural products form only 14% of India's total produce. After the economic reforms, the growth in agricultural GDP has averaged only 3.4%. Even...

-Live Mint To alleviate poverty and extend true food security to its people India must bring efficiency to public expenditures In the Indian economy, where almost half of the average household's expenditures goes toward food and half the labour force is engaged in agriculture, one cannot simply wish away the centrality of agriculture just because its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) hovers around a comparatively low 14%. India's agriculture is responsible...

-Deccan Herald   Chennai: Once the source of her livelihood, the farmland 51-year-old Vellamal owns in Kallupatti village near Tamil Nadu's Karur district has gone completely dry in the last one year due to monsoon failure. The rapidly depleting groundwater forced her to abandon agriculture and Vellamal, left high and dry, signed up to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Now, the scheme feeds her entire family. As Deccan Herald toured...