Chastened by the 'poverty line' controversy painting the Centre as insensitive to 'aam aadmi', the government is wary of challenging a Karnataka high court order which slammed the state for paying MGNREGA workers less than the minimum farm wages. The court said that job scheme wages could not be less than the minimum agricultural wages and ordered that workers be paid the arrears. The HC order would put an additional burden of...
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Land for landed by NC Saxena
The 12th Plan Approach Paper looks upon land more as raw material for mining and industrialisation than as a source of livelihood for the poor. DESPITE a fast economic growth, more than 60 per cent of the population of India is still dependent on land. The 12th Plan Approach Paper, however, looks upon land not as a source of livelihood for the poor but as raw material for mining and industrialisation....
More »Struggling to enter the BPL club by Jean Drèze
The Planning Commission's poverty straightjacket is but one of a series of obstacles faced by “aspirants” to the BPL status. Nothing illustrates the absurdity of current food policies more poignantly than the plight of Dablu Singh's family in Latehar district, Jharkhand. About two years ago Dablu, a young Adivasi who survived mainly from casual labour, fell from a roof at work and broke his back. He is paralysed for life and...
More »Farmers to march on Prithviraj Chavan's village
-DNA Shetkari Sanghatana (SS), along with Prahar and Kisan Mitra, has organised a rally from Amravati to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s native place, Kumbhargaon in Satara district, to voice the demands of farmers in the state. The rally will start on October 23 and reach Kumbhargaon on October 27. The campaign aims to awaken the state government to the deteriorating status of farmers in Maharashtra, pressurise it to fulfill the demands of...
More »Will Jairam Ramesh's new plan fix NREGA? by Sreelatha Menon
The new rural development minister wants to use technology to force states to make payments. Critics suggest that he should fix existing problems first. Jairam Ramesh is not afraid of stirring things up. Sixty days into his stint as the new Rural Development Minister, Ramesh, he has unveiled what he calls NREGA 2.0, a reform package that he feels would make the Rs 40,000 crore programme actually work. Ramesh has put together...
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