For generations, a majority of Vidarbha’s debt-ridden farmers have only grown cotton, making themselves vulnerable to unreliable market conditions. Now, these and other districts facing an agrarian crisis, as well as the rest of the state’s agriculture community may have some reason to smile. Rs 643 crore will be pumped into the state for the farmers, with the government going ahead with its ambitious Maharashtra Competitive Agriculture Project (MACP). On Tuesday, the...

The Union Rural Development Ministry appears to have painted itself into a corner on the issue of paying minimum wages to workers employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). The ministry has so far insisted that it is not obliged to pay minimum wages to MNREGS workers. This despite an Andhra Pradesh High Court order requiring the government to pay them statutory minimum wages. In a further...

IF Brazil has its Bolsa Familia, and Mexico its Progresa — schemes for alleviating poverty that have caught the fancy of international organisations — something that India has done recently is making news internationally. India’s system of social audits, that is, independent but local auditing of social programmes to fight poverty, like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), is attracting world attention. A 42-member delegation from 33 countries...

The accusation of ‘coercive' practices to recover the loans has been laid at the doors of some leading players Micro Finance institutions (MFIs) that are for profits are in the news for the wrong reasons. The ‘for profit' MFIs have grown spectacularly in recent times. But along with the large profits have come allegations of sharp practices. In Andhra Pradesh, where such MFIs have a sizable presence, the climate has now drastically...

Two months after Uttar Pradesh government launched a campaign to give incentives for the scheme of giving 100-day employment to 10 lakh marginalised families under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), it has become a bone of contention between the Centre and the state government. Under the initiative, the state had decided to appoint a nodal agency, identify civil society organisations and give them incentives for ensuring 80 to...