Climate change issues are affecting the lives and livelihoods of the farming community in our state. With majority of our rural population dependent on farming, the need of the hour is to create awareness among farmers on climate-resilient farm technologies and make them adopt them. So, a study was conducted in the Erumapatty block of Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu to study the awareness and adoption of climate-resilient farm technologies. The findings of this study revealed that majority of the respondents (68.33 per cent) had high level of awareness on climate-resilient farm technologies. With regard to adoption, majority (60.00 per cent) had medium level of adoption on climate-resilient farm technologies. On crop production and protection climate resilient farm technologies, namely drought-resilient varieties, Intercropping, Identification and use of short-duration varieties, drought-resilient fodder crops, Community nursery as a contingency measure for delayed planting, IPDM and PPFM to combat drought condition in small onion majority of the farmers in the study area are aware of it and adopt it in this study area.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) guarantees 100 days of employment in a financial year to any rural household whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work. A study was undertaken to assess the training needs of MGNREGA beneficiaries in the Dharmapuri district, one of the most backward districts of Tamil Nadu. A Proportionate random sampling method was used to select 120 respondents for this study. The data was collected using a well-structured and pre-tested interview schedule, and appropriate statistical tools were used for analysis. The findings of the study reveal that majority of the respondents expressed training needs on seven major subject areas i.e., Checking multiple entries in job cards, active participation in gram sabha meetings, operations of savings accounts in banks/ post office, Active participation in social audit, work allocation procedure and awareness on grievance redressal mechanisms. The majority preferred to have peripatetic training in their panchayat union office for a day during the summer season on forenoon session.

This study was conducted in the Pennagaram block of Dharmapuri district with 120 respondents for identifying the strengths, weakness, opportunities and challenges of MGNREGS. The major strengths are the availability of work with assured wages during the lean season, increase in the bargaining power of agricultural labor in rural areas, increasing their purchasing power of agricultural laborers and assist in proper repair and maintenance of community assets. The weakness identified are delay in payments and defects in carrying out the schedule of rates, lack of planning and expertise in identifying development work and prioritizing them in village panchayats, lack of awareness about social audit and e- muster rolls. With regard to opportunities, it has ensured women’s participation in the labour force leading to their empowerment, ensures food and nutrient security, creates job opportunities for all stakeholders in their rural habitats and prevents and checks migration to nearby towns/cities in search of employment. The challenges are poor allocation of funds and its disbursal to the beneficiaries affecting its functioning, Poor MGNREGS implementation and monitoring resulting in the creation of less public assets and infrastructure facilities, wide spread corruption and misuse of allocated funds and increased political interference in the selection of beneficiaries and assigning of works.