-Live Mint After years of denial about problems in its flagship social welfare programme, the MGNREGS, the government has awoken to the need for an honest debate on the subject After years of denial about problems in its flagship social welfare programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS), the government has awoken to the need for an honest debate on the subject. On Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made some...

-The Times of India In a rare move, government on Saturday released a compendium of independent studies on job guarantee scheme — both appreciative and critical of the programme — prompting Prime Minister Manmohan Singhto ask the rural development ministry to fix the issue of delayed payment for workers and minister Jairam Ramesh flagging corruption as a problem.  Top policymakers of UPA gathered at the PM's residence for the release of "MGNREGA...

-The Telegraph The Prime Minister today expressed surprise that “concurrent evaluation” of the rural job scheme was “not in good shape” and asked Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to “apply his mind to making good this deficiency”. Concurrent evaluation is an assessment of a scheme’s impact, strength and weaknesses while it is being implemented, as distinct from the annual CAG audit or a post-mortem. Its objective is to identify problems...

-PTI Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the issue of delayed payment to workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) should be addressed at the earliest, and sought concurrent audit of rural development schemes. ”I am surprised to hear from (Rural Development Minister) Jairam Ramesh that concurrent evaluation processes are not in good shape. When I was in the Planning Commission long ago, I think we have started the...

-The Business Standard   MGNREGA review should be based on more research Both acclaim and accusations have been hurled at the UPA’s landmark scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee programme, or MGNREGA. Usually, the reasons for the criticism or praise are less-than-completely supported. For example, it has been both praised and condemned for providing local wage employment to the jobless, thus curbing outmigration; similarly, it is claimed that the scheme has...