-The Hindustan Times UPA's flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGA) reduces child malnutrition, but only in the short term, says University of Oxford study. The first effort to analyse the effect of NREGA on child nutrition, the study was carried out on infants in 528 households in Durgarpur district of Rajasthan. During the study period, 53% of the households received payment under NREGA. "Participation in NREGA reduced acute malnutrition, but...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Political parties and candidates will now have to account for every penny spent on the use of social media for their poll campaigns. The Election Commission on Friday issued detailed guidelines to regulate internet campaigns on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc, asking candidates to declare their social media accounts and all political parties to pre-certify advertisements before they are posted on social media websites. The instructions also require...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Panchayat officials often fob off people seeking work under the rural job guarantee scheme, keeping the programme's implementation poor in states such as Bengal and Assam, the Centre believes. Delhi has now asked the states to get their gram panchayat offices to organise a Rozgar Diwas (Employment Day) at every ward every month, where work applications will be submitted and recorded at a public meeting. Such gatherings will...

-Down to Earth   14.5 per cent decline in employment under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, says country's chief auditor The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India recently released a report on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), highlighting the irregularities committed by the Uttar Pradesh government in implementing the scheme. CAG has pointed out that non-adherence to rules and regulations and inefficient financial management and monitoring of the...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: For the beleaguered UPA government, here are some words of praise. The flagship rural employment guarantee scheme has comes in for praise from the World Bank, five years after it described the programme as "policy barrier" to economic development and poverty alleviation. The World Development Report 2014 has described the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act as a "stellar example of rural development". At the heart...