Weighed down by an unending season of corruption, the political leadership of ruling the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has stepped in to rescue the regime’s flagship rural employment guarantee scheme from discredit due to mounting allegations of endemic irregularities. The National Advisory Council of the UPA, headed by Sonia Gandhi, on Wednesday asked the Manmohan Singh government to expedite notification of the much-awaited rules that would allow public scrutiny of the...

-The Business Standard   The Supreme Court today asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in six districts of Orissa. The apex court has directed the Central investigative agency to submit its report within six months. The CBI has been asked to check if the operational guidelines of the Central scheme were duly complied...

At home, the government is facing a barrage of allegations over corruption in public affairs, but here the Congress-led UPA-II was hailed for embracing an inclusive scheme like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). On Tuesday, the United Nations released a Global Assessment Report (GAR), praising NREGA and asked other nations to emulate the programme that has helped empower millions of marginalized. In a power-point presentation made during the release of the...

CBI told to submit first report within six months Many States erred in implementing the schemes The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged misuse of the schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 100 villages in six districts of Orissa. A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar gave this direction on a petition...

Eleven years after he came to power in 2000 and regularly refuting charges of numerous scams and scandals that rocked the image of his government, Orissa chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik now finds himself in the dock. After the Supreme Court’s direction on Monday for the CBI probe into the alleged `500-crore scam in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), an eerie silence...