The Union government is reneging on its legal obligation to pay minimum wages, even to the most deprived sections of the population, in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. If anyone wants to study the capacity of India's policymakers to turn a progressive piece of legislation upside down, the wage policy under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a good place to...

The Jammu and Kashmir Youth Congress Committee today held a demonstration against the alleged failure of the state government in effectively implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Led by party vice-president R S Pathania, over 700 activists raised slogans and held demonstrations at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Samba. Pathania claimed the Centre's flagship job-guarantee scheme has failed to achieve the desired results in the trouble-torn state...

Investigation by government officials into Re 1 being paid as wages to NREGA workers at Gudaliya village in Tonk district have brought to the fore large-scale anomalies. The assistant engineer in his report has accepted the fact that though the total expense of the work done in the village is worth only Rs 60,810 but Rs 4,80,472 were paid. “This clearly exposes the fact that false ‘measuring’ books were filed and...

The Haryana government Monday warned banks against recovering outstanding loans from the wages earned by people under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Haryana Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (panchayat and development department) P Raghavendra Rao said that banks, at their own level, could not recover their loan amount out of the monies received by them (banks) for payment as wages to those employed under MGNREGA. Rao said that...

The mammoth Rs 2,162 cr NREGA biometric project that will enable real time data capture of crucial processes such as attendance and measurement for muster roll preparation has finally kicked off with rural development ministry inviting expression of interest from the private sector companies. “The ministry of rural development envisages that the existing processes under NREGA can be digitized through a biometric based ICT solution that can be implemented at the...