-The Indian Express The central government will increase the number of workdays under the rural job guarantee scheme from 100 to 150 in drought-affected areas, said sources. The NDA government is all set to increase the number of workdays under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) — a flagship scheme of the UPA government it had openly criticised earlier — in areas which may be affected by the...

-The Indian Express With the spotlight on packaged foods’ failure to clear safety tests, The Indian Express samples 11 states and finds out how ill-equipped and understaffed their labs are. For a processed food market estimated at Rs 7.34 lakh crore by the Annual Survey of Industries, 72 state labs and 68 private ones with National Accrediation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation are conducting tests in India’s 640...

-Economic and Political Weekly A categorical distinction is facing rough weather--that between urban and rural. If we take just agriculture, there is so much of the outside world that comes in not just as external markets but as external inputs. Further, many of our villages barely qualify as rural if we were to take occupation alone. So the earlier line that separated the farmer from the worker in towns is slowly...

-The Business Standard Industry cheers, unions label the move veiled entry of a 'hire & fire' regime The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre has proposed to give industries some flexibility in hiring contract workers for project-based jobs or short-term assignments, a move cheered by industry but slammed by trade unions as an entry of 'hire and fire' through the back door. The proposal, originally mooted by the previous NDA government...

-Deccan Herald Poor monsoon forcing govt to intensify implementation Notwithstanding the scathing attack on UPA’s schemes, the Modi government would fall back on the previous regime’s flagship programme to rescue the rural economy from second consecutive deficient monsoon. The government would intensify implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in drought hit areas to stop the slide in rural incomes. Officials revealed that the main thrust in MGNREGA implementation in drought affected...