Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Jean Dreze, Aruna Roy keep off sammelan by K Balchand

Jean Dreze, Aruna Roy keep off sammelan by K Balchand

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Feb 2, 2010   modified Modified on Feb 2, 2010

Jean Dreze and Aruna Roy, members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) — governing body for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme — on Tuesday kept away from ‘MNREGS Sammelan 2010’ here, describing it as a “ceremonial function.”

In their joint letter to Rural Development Minister C.P. Joshi, the social activists, who had played a crucial role in shaping the manual job guaranteeing law, said, “We see little point in attending ceremonial functions as members of the CEGC,” stressing the council’s substantive work was at a virtual standstill.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi focussed on four years of completion of the law that guaranteed 100 days of job to a BPL (Below Poverty Line) household in rural areas.

Prof. Dreze and Ms. Roy regretted that Dr. Joshi did not care to address the concerns they raised in their letter in August about the council’s inertia and the issues that caused anxiety to them. “It is difficult to avoid the impression that the council is being deliberately kept in this dysfunctional state.” Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, it was the obligation of the government to facilitate the functioning of the council, they said. Failure to do so amounted to a violation of the law, besides depriving it of an “essential accountable safeguard.”

“Ill-considered” policy decisions had been taken, including freezing of wages in December 2008 against the advice of the council, the activists charged, and pointed out that the Ministry was yet to index wages to the price level despite a Congress manifesto promise.

Both of them protested against the Ministry’s decision to construct the Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra under the MNREGS, which, they feared was a “dangerous step towards displacement of labour-intensive works by material-intensive works.”

The activists saw this programme as a likely new entry point for exploitative and corrupt contractors and said its inclusion was “made in a non-transparent manner, without adequate consultation.”

They stressed that they were not against provisioning adequate infrastructure to gram panchayats, but such constructions were best undertaken under other schemes such as the Backward Regions Grant Fund with the labour component alone being dovetailed with the MNREGA.

Voices of resentment against the construction of the Kendra were heard at the meeting itself.


The Hindu, 3 February, 2010, http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/03/stories/2010020359501100.htm
 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close