In the recent week, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has dealt three major, concerted blows to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA):   (1) The Budget allocation for NREGA was reduced to just Rs 60,000 crore in 2023-24 (less than Rs 50,000 crore if we deduct wage arrears from 2022-23). This makes this year’s allocation the lowest as a proportion of GDP (0.2%) in the history of the programme. (2) The...

-The Telegraph Wages and salaries raised with effect from January 1; planters asked to clear dues before July-end Siliguri: The state labour department issued a notification on Tuesday for an interim hike of 15 per cent in wages of workers and salaries of staff and sub-staff in tea gardens of north Bengal with retrospective effect from January 1. According to the notification issued by state labour commissioner Amarnath Mallick, the daily wage would...

-Livemint.com A revision in nutrient-based subsidy rates is crucial to sustain credit profiles of fertiliser makers, Crisil said New Delhi: The central government’s fertilizer subsidy outgo could touch an all-time high of ₹1.65 trillion in FY23, against the budgeted ₹1.05 trillion, due to an unprecedented rise in the cost of raw materials and prices of fertilizers globally, rating agency Crisil said on Thursday. A revision in nutrient-based subsidy rates is crucial to sustain...

-The Telegraph The social audits take note of issues such as the card holders’ grievances and whether projects have been completed correctly The Centre has linked approval for the states’ rural job scheme budgets to their performance on certain transparency measures, hanging a cloud over funds release under the programme from April 1. The Union rural development ministry on Tuesday wrote to all the states seeking information by Wednesday on the social audits...

-The Hindu Limited impact in western Uttar Pradesh’s sugarcane belt After attracting thousands of farmers from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh to join a year-long agitation, farm union leaders were largely unable to leverage that mass support to tilt the results in the Assembly polls.  In Punjab, the union leaders who fought the elections are set to lose their deposits. In U.P., where the wider Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) platform campaigned against the BJP...