Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
THE NEXT time labourers in Chhattisgarh working for projects under the Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority, or CAMPA, get paid, their wages will not be deposited in a bank account. They will be paid in cash. This July 26 order of the state forest department violates a Supreme Court …
The Nitish Kumar government has decided to constitute a Bihar Rural Development Society (BRDS) comprising 32 experts drawn from the open market to help guide the implementation of rural development schemes in the state, telling them ‘Be the Change that You Wish to See’. The state government is expecting to …
The 12th five year plan will address the farmers concern regarding UPA’s flagship job guarantee programme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The plan approach paper says that while the growth in agriculture in the 11th plan is likely to average 3.3 per cent per year, inflation is …
New Delhi: Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said states should invoke the penalty clause against government officials for not doing their work under the job scheme. Ramesh said rules should be framed to activate section 25 of MGNREGA, which seeks to impose penalty of up to Rs 1,000 on lax …
The government will recast the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, to give it a welfare edge, following criticism that it was disconnected from people’s concern over corruption, high food prices and inflation. The attempt will be to make it more responsive to people’s needs and increase earnings of …
NEW DELHI, 1 SEPT: In order to achieve the targeted goals of the UPA’s flagship scheme, Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, the government has decided on a series of “reforms” to make it a truly “demand-driven and right-based programme”. “… the original objectives of MGNREGA are yet to be achieved, and its …
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 which is a rights-based flagship scheme of the Government of India with effect from 2 February, 2006, guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment in a given financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do …
Taking note of rising cases of financial irregularities in several works done under its flagship rural employment scheme MNREGA, the Centre has sent more than 230 special investigation teams to various states in the past five years to probe them. Out of the total of 236, 92 teams of National …
A Parliamentary standing committee has found discrepancies in MGNREGA wage distribution system and feels that reported number of corruption cases related to it is a just tip of the iceberg. “The number of corruption cases as reported is just a tip of the iceberg and the real situation in this …
Faced with a surge in demand for MGNREGS jobs from farm workers due to poor monsoon this year, Maharashtra, Assam and Jharkhand have sought additional funds from the Centre for the scheme. Poor rainfall in these states has affected agricultural activities, forcing farm workers to turn to the Mahatama Gandhi …
There are two broad governance issues that concern every citizen in this country today: corruption at different levels in the government, and grievances arising from the government’s poor functioning. The last few months have seen an outpouring of emotions related to these issues. It is amply clear that the people …
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday urged Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh to consider including the rearing of animals, dairy and coir industries, and water management under the ambit of jobs provided in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA). He wanted the Centre to include livelihood schemes, …
Union minister Jairam Ramesh has proposed a new bill that will address cases of corruption at the lowest level of the administration, hoping it will satisfy those opposed to the Lok Pal Bill introduced by the government. Touting it as a Public Services Grievance Redressal Bill, Ramesh said that the …
The Planning Commission has raised concerns over people migrating from the countryside to cities in search of jobs. The Plan panel says that this ‘distress migration’ is mainly due to delayed disbursement of wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or MGNREGA. It has asked the rural …
Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh called on Governor NN Vohra and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah here last evening. During their meeting, the Governor and Jairam discussed important issues relating to the implementation of various flagship rural development schemes and programmes in the state and reviewed the achievements under …
The government plans to focus its flagship rural jobs guarantee plan on the poorest districts of the country as there is a growing recognition within the administration that the scheme’s nation-wide rollout has adversely impacted its performance. Launched in 2006, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee programme promises at …
Three states have sought more funds under the government’s rural employment scheme to meet a surge in demand for jobs from farm hands affected by fluctuation in monsoon rains. Poor rainfall in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Assam this year has dried up farm work, compelling farm workers to turn to the …
The courtyard of Retnamma’s house resembles a battlefield. There are dead giant snails strewn around, slime oozing from their brown conch-shaped shells. “These are the ones I killed last night with salt,” says the 60-year-old resident of Konni village in the foothills of the Western Ghats in Kerala. “I was …
Concern over protecting the ‘holy cow’ status to the job guarantee programme, MGNREGA, appears to be overshadowing genuine worries in the government over increasing shortage of unskilled farm labour. Shooting down a suggestion from Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar that the programme may be suspended during the peak farming season, Rural …
