The late Rajiv Gandhi famously, or infamously, once claimed that only 15 per cent of the funds allocated to welfare programmes ever reached the intended beneficiaries. The rest leaked enroute, entering the pockets of an assortment of intermediaries. This is a thought that the Union finance minister must always remember, especially when he sits down to allocate funds for an assortment of subsidies and some of the high-profile spending programme...
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Tracking Nilekani by Latha Jishnu
If the Unique Identity project is such a good thing why is the man heading it unable to answer simple questions about it? Since the publication of his doorstopper of a book Imagining India in 2009, Nandan Nilekani has done a superb job of reinventing himself. The former head of software giant Infosys Technologies was overnight cast in the role of a visionary with his unabashedly free market prescription to turn...
More »Centre revises minimum daily wage under MGNREGS: Hooda
cThe Centre has revised the minimum daily wage under its flagship programme of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for all the states, Haryana government today said. As per this decision, the MGNREGA workers in Haryana would now get daily wage at the rate of Rs 179 with effect from January 1, 2011, a statement quoting Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said here. The revised wage rate of...
More »Government can’t guarantee equal access to food for all: CJI by KV Ramana
The government can’t be expected to provide food, education and healthcare to all but relief would be offered to the deprived sections, Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia has said while advocating the adoption of minimum core approach. Saying that the financial meltdown has ushered in a paradigm shift from equality in terms of equal access to minimum core approach, the CJI said, “Equal access to food cannot be given. You...
More »Nitish pilots change in NREGA fund plan by Chetan Chauhan
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has done what his counterparts in other states failed to do. He convinced the Centre that its policy on disbursement of funds for implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) was flawed and needed correction. At a meeting with Plan Panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Kumar pointed out the anomaly, which the government acknowledged and was quick to react. This resulted in...
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