Results of an investigation report filed by senior government of India officials have confirmed largescale anomalies in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MG NREGS) in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh. The investigation was conducted in the first week of January, in response to a series of complaints filed by Sanjay Dixit, member, Central Employment Guarantee Council, in August, 2010, that pointed to widespread misuse of...

The ministry of rural development has demanded a nearly 60% increase in the allocation for its marquee job guarantee scheme in the forthcoming Union budget for fiscal 2011-12. The ministry has sought an allocation of around Rs. 64,000 crore, up from Rs. 41,100 crore, for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), a ministry official said, requesting anonymity. MGNREGS, the flagship programme of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government...

In a bid to check wasteful fuel and fertiliser subsidy and reach it to the intended beneficiaries , the government has set up a task force to suggest a suitable mechanism of direct transfer of subsidy to the consumers. The task force will be headed by Nandan Nilekani , Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India ( UIDAI )) and has been asked to submit an interim report within four months....

With the number of non-governmental organisations growing in the country, the government is planning to bring them under a regulatory mechanism to make them accountable. As of now, there are no specific laws or regulations to regulate volunteerism in India. A task force, constituted to examine the issues related to the evolution of an independent, national level, self-regulatory agency for the voluntary organisations and develop accreditation methodologies by the Planning Commission,...

About 80,000 youths from Below Poverty Line families are to be imparted job-oriented skill training under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, though the programme is yet to be launched formally. The Union Ministry of Rural Development has approved 14 projects for skill training leading to placement in urban settings, at an estimated cost of Rs. 165 crore, to be executed through private-public partnership mode. The Centre will contribute 75 per cent of...