The government plans to pay `80 every year for three years to state-owned banks for each account they have for a beneficiary of the rural job guarantee scheme. This is expected to provide an incentive to lenders to ensure quicker delivery of wages under India’s flagship welfare programme. “We have made a proposal to the finance ministry that a public sector bank gets paid `80 per year for each MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Don't Curb NREGS ( Times Of India)
Though it remains susceptible to Leakages and can do with greater oversight, the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGS) appears to have boosted rural incomes by providing job seekers at least 100 days' guaranteed labour every financial year. That's why the Union rural development ministry's reported advisory to states to 'informally' suspend NREGS operations during peak farming season isn't a very good idea. For starters, the move would be legally...
More »NHRC favours social audit of govt''s flagship schemes
-PTI Critical over the Leakage of funds meant for the rural poor, the National Human Rights Commission has suggested that the government should conduct a social audit of flagship programmes like MGNREGA and ICDS to have an assessment on what is the impact on ground. A top NHRC official said the government''s various studies and reports had shown that there was no match between the programmes and performance as the authorities...
More »Montek panel for UID use to plug PDS Leakages
-The Business Standard A panel headed by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has advocated the use of unique identification numbers to plug loopholes in the public distribution system (PDS). The working group on PDS reforms, which finalised its draft report today, has also suggested a nationwide computerised system for tracking transportation and distribution of PDS items. “We have approved the draft report and will give it to the Prime Minister...
More »Who will watch the watchmen? by Minhaz Merchant
The audited balance sheets of the six largest political parties in India are hard to get and harder to decipher: they hide more than they reveal but are nonetheless worth close examination. Between them, the Congress, BJP, BSP, SP, NCP and CPM reported total income of Rs 1,046.76 crore for the year ending March 31, 2009. That was the year in which most of the funds for the 2009 Lok...
More »