Officials may pocket the wage increases, but the wage level in MGNREGA seems just enough to induce workers to turn up. This year marks the sixth anniversary of the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), India's landmark right-to-work programme. The Act guarantees 100 days of paid employment to every rural household in India (up to 850 million people), regardless of eligibility criteria, and establishes the government's...
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For two Tihar Jail inmates, freedom for seven hours every day-Geeta Gupta
In the ninth year of his 10-year term in Tihar, 25-year-old Anil is savouring a taste of what life might soon be for him. Between 11 am and 6 pm, Anil is free — free to roam around the 450-acre prison complex and work at Tihar Haat, to enter which he actually steps out of the prison gate. Anil is one of two prisoners made a part of Tihar’s Semi-open jail...
More »Growing Food Demand Strains Energy, Water Supplies-Jeff Smith
The northern region of Gujarat State in western India is Semi-arid and prone to droughts, receiving almost all of its rain during the monsoon season between June and September. But for the past three decades, many crop and dairy farms have remained green—even during the dry season. That's because farmers have invested in wells and pumps, using massive amounts of electricity to extract water from deep aquifers. The government has artificially propped...
More »What hit this land of plenty?-Sai Manish
75% of the youth. Every third student. 65% of all families in Punjab are in the throes of a sweeping drug addiction. With little or no hope in sight. THE RAILWAY barrier in Angarh, a locality in the border city of Amritsar in Punjab signals the end of too many things. The rule of law. The reign of sense. The fear of crime. The signs of normality. Even the divisions of...
More »Poverty rate fell due to liberalisation, say experts
-The Business Standard Rising per capita income and growth have reduced poverty among all classes, including socially-disadvantaged classes. Though there are skeptics who argue that growth has bypassed the socially disadvantaged classes, the analysis of National Sample Survey (NSS) data proves otherwise. But, high prevalence of poverty in the states where more SC, ST populations are living still remains same. A Columbia University, USA, study that had analysed the NSS figures from...
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