-The Times of India Ramgarh: A team of officials from Union ministry of rural development visited the Maoist-hit villages of Mandu block on Friday and expressed satisfaction over implementation of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in remote villages of the district. The central team headed by rural development ministry joint director N Murugnanam along with state MGNREGA commissioner Satish Kumar and Ramgarh DC visited Burhakhap, Ambatand...

-The Times of India KOLKATA: It may be the impact of the efforts put in by officials led by panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee in the past few months, or a matter of outdoing the former Left Front government in terms of figures. But the fact is that the Mamata Banerjee government has spent a whopping Rs 982.86 crore in this March alone under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act...

-The Hindu Business Line The West Bengal Government will aim to provide up to 60 days' job to beneficiaries under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) this year. West Bengal has performed better than other States in the country in terms of providing rural employment, the Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, said addressing a rally in Lalgarh village in West Midnapore district on Tuesday. “In spite of starting from the...

Difficult times call for difficult measures. Pushed into a corner by an unsustainable fiscal deficit and various sectors and programs (including the proposed food security legislation) screaming for a greater share of the budget pie, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in India has been forced to do what it might not have otherwise—reduce its marquee job guarantee scheme’s allocation in a big way for the first time.  In one...

-The Economic Times   Shibu Joseph ( Why I am Quitting my Job, ET, March 29) suggests, tongue-in-cheek, that he should quit the drudgery of corporate life and, instead, enjoy the "freebies" given to the aam aadmi, like the right to work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).  I am not going to write on behalf of the crores of people who work in this programme, because I am...