The state food department has drawn up elaborate plans to develop the infrastructure of the public distribution system (PDS) following chief minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to Khadya Bhavan last week. During the visit, the chief minister asked that a committee comprising trade union members be formed and that they come up with suggestions on how to improve the infrastructure of the PDS scheme and evict corruption from the system. A...

The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad today “took back” land that was being used by a Siliguri-based planter as a small tea garden for the past five years, alleging that he had duped the Adivasi owners. The Jalpaiguri administration has termed the “takeover” illegal. “Who gave them the rights or the responsibility of reclaiming tribal land? There is an administration and government procedure for everything. They should have come to us...

The law providing 100 days of wage employment has been heard more for its abuse than its benefits in the five years of its existence. However, we take a look at some positive examples of district authorities experimenting with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Except in the case of Sikkim, the examples show the law being implemented entirely by the district authorities rather than the local Panchayat. In...

It has served as a tool to ease tension in Kandhamal and ethnic conflict among Manipur's tribal groups Officials rewarded for ingenuity at function celebrating completion of five years of MGNREGS Eight District Magistrates from across India rewarded for efforts in their respective districts Pepping up the rural economy, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is also a magic wand for reducing tensions and forging social unity and bonding family...

Just two and half years ago, Kandhamal was India’s shame as a communal violence triggered by the killing of a Hindu seer left 38 people dead, thousands of houses and hundreds of churches burnt and vandalised and several thousand people scurrying to relief camps for safety. As Christian were slayed and attacked by VHP and RSS goons across the district, it forced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to call it a...