-FirstPost.com What compelled a group of leading economists from India and abroad to shoot a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the government's job scheme - the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA? Is it to speak out against the government's desperation to throttle the scheme or did the economists sense any ulterior motive behind the government's move? A section of prominent Indian economists working out of the country or...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union rural Development ministry today highlighted the findings of select studies to defend its plan to modify the rural job guarantee scheme and answer critics who have accused it of trying to dilute the programme. A ministry note that cited these studies said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) needed reforms to increase the creation of productive and durable assets and reduce politics and...

-SciDev.net   * Watershed Development for farming is an ancient Indian practice * Irrigation is increasingly being seen as the answer to water scarcity * Good water management, rather than irrigation, is essential for resilient agriculture Thiruvananthapuram: Watershed Development that primarily involves increasing irrigation is not the answer to water scarcity prevalent in Indian agriculture, says a new study. Watershed Development (WSD) practices like soil and water conservation and small scale rainwater harvesting have been...

-Deccan Chronicle Under the stewardship of Union rural Development minister Nitin Gadkari, things are looking far from good for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the 2005 law passed with cross-party support under UPA-1 that came to be hailed as the world's largest rural job guarantee scheme although, at home, some fair criticisms were also levelled at the way the project worked on the ground. The critics pointed to...

-Livemint If Narendra Modi does not believe in a social safety net like MGNREGA, he should repeal the Act. Or else, reform it On 13 October, 28 leading Development economists wrote a letter urging the Modi government to avoid diluting the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or MGNREGA (often referred to as a scheme). Judging by the proposed changes to MGNREGA mentioned in the letter, one would be compelled to...