-The Telegraph New Delhi: Four in every five workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act do not get wages on time because of "flawed guidelines", a study released today found. Although the 100-day job scheme provides for payment of compensation of 0.05 per cent of the unpaid wages per day for the period of delay, nearly 33 per cent of the workers do not get any compensation while 47...

A recent one-liner about the achievement of the present Central government goes like this: bovine has become ‘divine’ during the NDA’s rule. But why do such jokes originate? Media reports suggest that unprecedented aggression has taken place during the recent months in the name of the peaceful looking animal – cow. Mob lynching and killings by fringe groups have been reported from various parts of the country, especially targeting Muslims and...

-The Telegraph Lucknow: Implementation of the crop loan waiver that Yogi Adityanath's government had announced on April 4 faces a fresh threat of delay, this time because of poor Internet connectivity in the border regions. Adityanath had on Friday asked district administrations to collect the loan data from the banks and upload them on their websites by July 31 and then start handing out the waiver certificates. But hundreds of bank branches have...

-Down to Earth New norms for declaring drought are too stringent to be practical and are indicative of Centre’s intention to pass on the financial burden to states Karnataka government has opposed Centre’s move to change parameters for drought assessment. The new manual for drought management limits Centre’s scope to offer financial assistance to states in the eventuality of drought. Unlike the 2009 manual for drought management—which was a mere guideline...

-Observer Research Foundation The Modi government needs to urgently revisit the opaque and draconian cattle trade rules. n the wake of a number of well-publicised incidents of lynching and mob violence, most of them related to issues surrounding cattle trade or beef consumption, a narrative — Lynchistan — has taken hold that there’s been a spike in the incidents of lynchings and mob violence. In one telling, such violence has increased after...