<p>Judgment of the Calcutta High Court in the matter of Yeasin Molla & Others Vs Union of India & Others dated 12/09/2023.</p> <p>The petitioners are the ration card holders and members of Priority
Cong for centralised monitoring In an effort to deny the opposition of any credit for the UPA government's flagship programme, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), a Congress delegation led by its apparent-heir Rahul Gandhi today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today to introduce centralised monitoring of this ambitious scheme. "Since the Centre allots a large amount of money for this programme, it should monitor how state governments are spending the funds allocated for the NREGA,' the delegation told the Prime Minister when it called on him in his Parliament House office to discuss the implementation of the programme. This suggestion follows serious concern in the Congress that opposition-ruled states are taking credit for this scheme as the state governments are responsible for its implementation although the funds are provided by the Centre. Faced with a series of Assembly polls this year, the Congress does not want the Opposition to walk away with all the accolades and would instead like the party to reap electoral benefit from this scheme, especially since it was launched at its behest. Rahul, who had led a similar delegation to the Prime Minister to press for the universalisation of the programme and succeeded in his mission, said they had given several suggestions on improving the implementation of the programme. "I don't think it is fair to lambast the programme
Youth brigade: (From left) Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rahul Gandhi, Jitin Prasad, Deepender Hooda, Tejaswini Sri Ramesh and other MPs after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Thursday. Congress MP and general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday led a delegation of MPs to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for centralised monitoring of the programme under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. There is a demand to expand the scheme from 330 districts to cover all 600 districts. This is the second time that Mr. Gandhi has met the Prime Minister on NREGA, a flagship programme of the UPA government. However, there have been several complaints about the manner in which the programme, meant to give 100 days of employment to one able-bodied person in a rural household, was being implemented by States. "We met the Prime Minister to discuss the implementation of the NREGA. We gave some suggestions on how we can improve its implementation,' Mr. Gandhi told journalists after the meeting. He said they made some points for its better implementation. The delegation sought social auditing mechanisms to identify those who deserved to be in the programme and those who did not. For this, they sought the creation of an IT infrastructure "which would make available at the press of a button the beneficiaries and make for greater accountability,' said party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi. He said the MPs urged the Prime Minister to ensure that NREGA was operationalised nation-wide in a transparent and participatory manner. "Since the programme is largely funded by the Centre, the delegation felt that the Central government should monitor how States were spending allocations and promote mutual learning amongst States by following best practices of specific State governments, such as Andhra Pradesh.' The Prime Minister is understood to have assured the delegation that he would look into their demands. Among those who accompanied Mr. Gandhi were Jyotiraditya Scindia, Tushar Amarsinh Choudhry, Milind Deora, Sandeep Dixit, Deepender Hooda, Jitin Prasad, Pallam Raju, Devavrata Singh, Tejaswini Sri Ramesh and Balashowry Vallabhaneni.
First, it was Congress President Sonia Gandhi publicly indicating to Finance Minister P Chidambaram the direction she wanted the budget to take
in december 2007, the Chhattisgarh government estimated that the state had 2.14 million people below poverty line (bpl) families in the state. A month later, while launching a new food assistance
While the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government may boast of having successfully implemented the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme across the country, the real story in the national Capital is that graduates and post-graduates have taken to begging due to lack of employment opportunities. They may be indulging in an opprobrium-filled career, but there are the rich and middle-class among them that can put to shame many well-educated people in the country. This news about beggars in Delhi may make the salaried class feel small. A survey conducted by the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) of the Delhi University shows that six graduates and four post-graduates are beggars and they earn anything between Rs 200 and Rs 500 daily, depending on where they pick conduct their business. The best areas are religious sites, major red light intersections and markets. That adds up to Rs 15,000 per month, a salary level that is attained by a post-graduate after slogging for a few years in the normal course of events. According to the survey, eight beggars earn between Rs 200 and Rs 500 per day in the Capital. The DSW interviewed 5,003 beggars to take stock of the begging menace in the city following the direction of the Delhi High Court last year. As per the survey, out of the 506 beggar respondents who were literate, 321 (9-10 per cent) were educated up to the primary level followed by 175 (4.56 per cent) beggars who were educated up to the secondary level. The survey reports that beggars earn anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 500 per day. There are approximately 58,570 beggars in the State, and the majority are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with Haryana, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Delhi also making a fair contribution. Interestingly, most of the beggars who were interviewed were aware of the fact that beggary had been made illegal by the Government. Around 54.13 per cent beggars responded that they were aware that begging was illegal while the rest of the others said they did not know It also shows that either the beggars are unafraid of the law or that it is not being implemented properly. For many, asking for alms was a family profession,only a few said they were forced into it by someone else or were part of a gang. A large majority live on pavements (1,082), near temples (644) and under bridges (406). Although the department is still in the process of finding out about those who have a physical deformity, whether someone actually caused it or if it was genetic or due to a disease. That they were opting for begging as the best career option can also be gauged from the fact that their age category was between 13 and 19 years. Surely, they could have done some other work, but chose this particular mode of earning a living as it generated greater cash on a regular basis plus and did not entail much physical exercise.
The All Assam Gramin Sramik Santha (AAGSS) and the Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Krishan Sramik Sabha (KANCKSS) have submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister through the office of the Deputy Commissioner demanding an CBI inquiry into the alleged NREGA scam involving issue of job cards which came to light after a Comptroller and Auditor General interim report. The organizations have alleged that original candidates who applied for the job cards have been ignored. They have demanded that the State Government hold a special session of the State Assembly to discuss the failure of the implementation of the NREGA scheme and issue a White Paper on the matter. The memorandum stated that there must be strict legally enforceable provisions whereby 100 days salary is cut from the pay of panchayat and block officers if 100 days job guarantee and payment of minimum wages is not ensured. It also stated that the policy of restricting the poor to a pre-fixed "BPL quota' be rolled back and publish a fresh list based on comprehensive ground survey. It also demanded that job cards must be issued to all poor families who demands it. The scheme must also guarantee 200 days of work per family in a year and make the number of job-card holders the basis for budgetary allocation for NREGA. Both the AAGSS and KANCKSS have stated that if the Government ignore their demands they would resort to an agitational programme from March 1.
Does away with middlemen; ten States keen to replicate model The implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) through biometric smart cards in Andhra Pradesh has attracted nationwide attention, with many States planning to adopt a similar method. Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd (FINO), a Mumbai-based technology solutions provider, is presently implementing NREGS in five districts of Andhra Pradesh by paying wages through biometric smart cards. "The hassle-free mode of payment sans middlemen has become a hit with the unskilled manual labourers. Encouraged by the feedback, at least 10 other States, including Orissa, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, are showing interest in adopting similar methods,' Mr Rishi Gupta, Chief Financial Officer and President (Sales), FINO, told Business Line over phone from Mumbai. Implementation After a successful pilot programme in eight mandals of Warangal and Karimnagar districts, the payment of pension and National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme wages are now being paid through smart cards in 259 villages
Economy on the move: The President, Ms Pratibha Patil, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr Somnath Chatterjee, and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr P.R. Dasmunshi, arriving to attend the first day of the Budget Session at Parliament House in the Capital on Monday.
DOWN TO EARTH Sunita Narain / New Delhi February 26, 2008 It was the mid-1980s, environmentalist Anil Agarwal was on a mission: to track down the person who had conceptualised the employment guarantee scheme in Maharashtra. His hunt (I tagged along) led him to a dusty, file-paper filled office in the secretariat. There we met V S Page. I remember a diminutive, soft-spoken man, who explained to us why in 1972 when the state was hit with crippling drought and mass migration of people, it had worked on a scheme under which professionals working in cities would pay for employment in villages.
Works would be undertaken under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the National Parks. This information was given by Forest Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah at a meeting of officers of National Parks, Forest Department and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme . This meeting of officers of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Forest Department was held for exploring the possibilities of starting works under this Scheme at forest villages. Those present on the occasion included Secretary Rural Development Ashok Shah, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Wildlife PB Gangopadhyay, Chief Conservator of Forests Suhas Kumar, Conservator of Forests Wildlife and Vinay Burman of Narmada Valley Development Authority. Forest Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah said that it is necessary to include residents of forest villages in the mainstream of development. For this purpose, works are getting done on a large scale. Ashram Shalas for children of forest villages' dwellers are being opened from July in the next session. He told the forest officers that whatever works are necessary for development must be done. For this, development schemes for villages falling under National Parks, Sanctuaries and forest ranges should be chalked out. Whatever works can be done under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme should be done and for the remaining works resources should be mobilised for the Forest Department. He told the officers to get the saplings of fruit-bearing trees planted at the Badas of beneficiaries belonging to scheduled tribes. He instructed the Forest Department officers to seek the guidance and cooperation of Technical Department officers in construction works. Secretary Rural Development Department Ashok Shah gave information to the officers about National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme . He said that many beneficiary-oriented works like Kapil Dhara, Nandan Phalodyan, Bhumi Shilp, Nirmal Vatika and silk sub-plan can be implemented under the Scheme . Similarly, works of community development including Shail-Parna, Nimal Neer and Vanya sub-plan can be launched. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests PB Gangopadhyay told the officers that vast possibilities of labour-based works exist in the area under National Parks and sanctuaries. With a view to tapping these possibilities works under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme-MP can be launched. On the basis of information under the Act, forest officers should prepare schemes and present the same to the concerning District Panchayat. The workshop was also addressed by officers of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme , Joint Commissioner AK Singh and chief engineer AK Choudhary.
