Farmers in Bagli village of Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh will organise a public hearing on Oct 8 on the harmful impact of chemical fertilizers on soil. Several agriculture experts, government officials, politicians and representatives of civil society are expected to attend the hearing. The public hearing is part of the 'Living Soils' campaign launched by Greenpeace India to highlight soil health and its relevance to food security. 'The hearing will review the...

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which has revitalised the rural landscape across the country, stands diminished in the land of its birth, Rajasthan, hijacked and held to ransom by vested interests and stripped of its backbone of an open Social Audit. As the Andhra experience has shown, there is one ingredient that can bring back its vitality: institutionalising citizen audits. But, is the Rajasthan government up to...

Media persons from all over the country have a great opportunity to witness the dance of democracy in Jaipur beginning Gandhi Jayanti. A peaceful ‘dharna’ organized by grassroots organizations like the MKSS and RTI Manch, among others, is already attracting some of India’s top writers, editors, development thinkers and civil society activists, besides thousands of common people from all across Rajasthan. The movement will continue indefinitely from October 2 onwards...

Delay in payment of wages to beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Ranchi would be looked into."We have made a request to the Labour Commissioner to look into the delay in payments and register complaints so a fine could be imposed against those responsible in delaying payment," the Ranchi Deputy Commissioner, K K Soan, told newsmen here today.A Social Audit had found that banks and...

  The sea change that India’s national scheme for rural employment guarantee has accomplished is hard to fathom, its vastness touching the lives or more than 100 million people. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 (NREGA, subsequently renamed after Mahatma Gandhi, or MGNREGA) was a landmark in Indian legislation. Under the act, as of April 2008, for the first time in India’s history, all rural citizens have a legal right...