The construction sector is now India's second-largest employer after agriculture, the trend coinciding with India's high-growth phase and decline in poverty levels
Responding to a query about corruption in the scheme's implementation, Minister of State for Rural Development Upendra Kushwaha said almost all members know about it and added that steps are being taken for improving the scheme.
Former President A P J Abdul Kalam kindly answered rediff.com's questions for an exclusive interview.
'The BJP has started a war-like situation against farmers and the Jat community.'
Rajasthan is reeling under a huge financial burden with the state's debt having gone beyond Rs 5.59 lakh crores. Rajasthan has increased expenditure on education by 203.4 percent, by 105.4 percent on health, by 227.14 percent on housing. Its expenditure on social welfare schemes has increased by almost 2,475 per cent.
Sharing his experience of the yatra so far, the Congress leader said he felt sad while talking to farmers, youth, and tribals.
Dipak Brahma, a resident of Dhantola Mandaria, a forest village in Kokrajhar district, had recently returned from Gujarat, where he worked as a labourer. He was jobless and finding it hard to support his family, according to an official of an NGO working against human trafficking.
The poverty ratio in the country has fallen steeply during the UPA regime to 21.9 per cent in 2012 from 37.2 per cent in 2004, said the UPA government's Report Card released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
On Gandhi Jayanti, she also invoked the Father of the Nation, to assail the government which, she claimed, swears by his name but demolishes his ideals through its actions.
A state-of-the-art memorial ground will also be constructed in his honour.
In the context of market integrity, the IRAI and RBI should go over the minutes of the LIC and SBI board meetings when the decisions to invest in Adani equity or debt were taken, notes Jaimini Bhagwati, former World Bank treasury professional.
Of the cash outgo, Rs 64,598 crore is for enhanced expenditure on fertiliser subsidy under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan 3.0 and Rs 20,466 crore for the capital outlay in defence services.
India's rural employment guarantee programme MNREGA has been ranked as the world's largest public works programme, providing social security net to almost 15 per cent of the country's population, the World Bank has said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will have to do a tight-rope walk between staying fiscally prudent and general public expectations of lower taxes and a wider social security net, while at the same time firing the engines of the economy before general elections. Sitharaman will on Wednesday present her fifth straight Budget at a time when the economy is slowing due to global headwinds and specific sectors need attention. In the run-up to the Budget presentation, expectations are rife that she may tweak income-tax slabs to provide relief to the middle class and increase spending on the poor through programmes such as the rural job scheme while ramping up financial incentives for local manufacturing.
The National Judicial Commission Bill, 2022, was introduced after the majority of voice votes were in its favour.
The recent improvement in consumer sentiment is almost entirely a rural India story. Much of the corporate sector reposes faith in rural India to fuel its growth, observes Mahesh Vyas.
Reminiscent of the past two years, the market has made positive strides ahead of the Union Budget 2023-24 (FY24). The benchmark National Stock Exchange Nifty has gained 1.8 per cent in the last month. Typically, markets tend to gain ahead of the Budget as investors build in optimism.
'Revision of the base year for both CPI and GDP are long overdue.' 'The basic data that went into the 2011-2012 series were mainly from surveys done in 2011 or earlier.' 'We have since seen the emergence of new sectors like platform-based work and online marketing.' 'The employment surveys and the consumption surveys need to reflect these adequately.'
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Between FY05 and FY12, rural poverty declined at 2.3 per cent per annum and urban at 1.69 per cent.
If only the Congress could rebuild on its strengths and develop a modern enough ideology, we could again be moving towards a clearer two-party political landscape, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
However, ration card, driving licence, voter identity card, Kisan passbook with photo, job card issued under MGNREGS and a certificate issued by a gazetted officer or a tehsildar will be admissible as proof of identity for people to get the benefits under the scheme till the time they get Aadhaar.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a new job creation scheme by giving subsidy to those establishments that make new hires. The subsidy would be to cover for retirement fund contributions by employees as well as employers for two years, she said. Employees contribution (12 per cent of wages) and employer's contribution (12 per cent of wages) totalling 24 per cent of wages would be given to establishments for two years, she said. Under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, every Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)-registered establishment taking new employees would get this subsidy.
Less than nine per cent of Chhattisgarh households got jobs for 100 days under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act during 2007-08 to 2011-12, a Comptroller and Auditor General report tabled in the assembly on Wednesday said.
Could it have been more reformist? Of course, but this is an election year Budget, observes Akash Prakash.
'Markets are not expensive; they are fairly priced.'
'80% of the rural and urban population don't have enough purchasing power.'
The government has budgeted for total expenditure of Rs 34.83 lakh crore or 6.8 per cent of GDP. While the net tax revenue rose from Rs 5,75,697 crore in October 2020 to Rs 10,53,135 crore till October 2021, a growth of 82.93 per cent annualized, total expenditure rose only by 9.95 per cent, led by infra spending to Rs 18,26,725 crore from Rs 16,61,454 crore during the same period, the RBI said in the financial stability report.
While no specific state-oriented sops were rolled out, a strong thread of political wellness ran through the Budget.
They said that massive public investment in infrastructure, social sectors and agriculture would generate employment and the Union Budget should give it a priority and allocate necessary funds for this.
The finance minister has stayed true to her commitment to fiscal consolidation, even though the pace of the decline in the deficit could have been faster, notes A K Bhattacharya.
The meetings with various ministries will go on till December 12, according to an office notice
India's time use survey for January-December 2019 had found that an average person in urban areas spends 485 (eight hours and five minutes) minutes on employment and related activities.
The key gain from using Aadhaar will be a drastic cut in impersonation and fictitious identities, thereby plugging a major loophole through which a lot of leakage in subsidy payment takes place.
These include home, industrial development (mining), justice, labour, excise, environment conservation and climate change, disaster management and rehabilitation and civil aviation.
More and more women are making their presence felt in jobs related to sciences, technology, and engineering across organisations.
A good agricultural harvest and a timely arrival of monsoon, besides a slew of government schemes, have also come as a bounty.
The Left party had favoured spending six and three per cent of GDP on education and health care sectors.
Pawar said a rift is being created between communities and an attempt is being made to divert the attention from real issues like inflation and unemployment.
He also rejected reports that have hinted possible increase in coronavirus cases due to migrants and asked, "Did corona not spread at places where migrants were not there?"
