Cyclones, untimely rain send onion prices rocketing

NEWDELHI: Onion prices have witnessed a sharp increase this week, touching ~80-100 in urban centres, which traders and expertsattributedtowidespread disruptiontoharvestandruined crops following an extended rainyseason,evenasthegovernmentscrambledformeasuresto augmentsupply.TheUnionconsumer affairs ministry relaxed fumigation and phytosanitary norms, which refer to legal standardsforpresenceofagricultural chemicals in food imports.

NEW DELHI: The Union government may allow the use of machines in work done under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) — a move that would mark the first relaxation of rules in the flagship job creation programme .

According to two senior officials familiar with the matter, a proposal in this regard by three states— Andhra Pradesh, MadhyaPradeshandKarnataka—is under “active consideration”.

The officials, who asked not to

HT had reported eported that KarnKarnataka,tk Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh raised the request.

be named, added that even if machines were allowed for selective use in certain work under the scheme, which guarantees a total of 100 days of unskilled manual work a year to at least one member of every rural household, the wages of the workers would not be affected.

The MGNREGS, enacted in the year 2005, during the first Congress-ledUnitedProgressive Alliance (UPA) government, has not allowed work done by machines on the grounds that it substitute manual labour, thereby defeating the essence of the scheme, which aims to provide alternative and guaranteed employment opportunities to people.