-The Indian Express The finance minister plans to scrap the supply of subsidised kerosene through the public distribution system (PDS) and high time, too. To begin with, why has the kerosene subsidy needed reform for decades and yet reform never materialised? Kerosene obtained through the PDS, being cheaper, is used to adulterate diesel and petrol. Kerosene leakages in the PDS are estimated to be 40 per cent of total allocations. The diversion...

-The Guardian After a decade of success, the landmark scheme is being starved of money by a central government seemingly intent on reining in rural wage growth Ten years ago this week, the Indian parliament unanimously passed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). It was a historic legislation based on two interlinked goals: ensuring livelihood security to rural residents by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment...

-The Hindu Reforms must be part of a continuing agenda. The basic principle guiding reforms must be to create a competitive environment with a stress on efficiency. In many ways the coming decade will be crucial for India as growth is the answer to many of its socio-economic problems The data on national income released recently give a new twist to India's growth story. The most significant change is with respect to...

-Business Standard While the revised estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP) suggest the Indian economy turned the corner in 2013-14, concerns remain over the durability of this nascent recovery. Particularly worrying is the recent slowdown in rural wage growth, which signals a weakening of rural demand. Growth in rural wages, which had averaged 18 per cent in the previous few years, fell to less than five per cent in September...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The NDA government is looking at two possible steps to cut down expenditure on the job guarantee scheme that seeks to provide 100 days of employment a year to every rural household. The rural development ministry is exploring the idea of limiting the scheme to six months instead of a year in about 4,000 blocks that are not covered under intensive implementation. Workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural...