-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: For the beleaguered UPA government, here are some words of praise. The flagship rural employment guarantee scheme has comes in for praise from the World Bank, five years after it described the programme as "policy barrier" to economic development and poverty alleviation. The World Development Report 2014 has described the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act as a "stellar example of rural development". At the heart...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Keeping his promise to focus on creating durable assets under the UPA's flagship rural employment guarantee programme, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has made changes to the programme's guidelines. In a letter sent to all chief ministers, Ramesh announced a clarification to the operational guidelines of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which would allow for use of funds to create durable assets. The clarification relates...

-University of Oxford Babies in a rural area of India are less likely to suffer from acute malnutrition where their families are taking part in a job-guarantee programme to provide work with a guaranteed wage, an Oxford University study has found. However, the Indian government programme appears to have no effect on long-term malnutrition. While wages earned through the scheme helped families avoid starvation when seasonal agricultural jobs were in short supply, many...

-The Hindu THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala government proposes to introduce a pension scheme for workers registered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREG) and having worked under the MGNREG scheme for at least 100 days a year. Minister for Rural Development and Culture K.C. Joseph told the media that the pension scheme would be implemented with contributions from State and Central governments and the workers. This is the first pension scheme...

-The Indian Express     A degree of targeting is useful in ensuring that policies are effective in reducing poverty. But we have to be careful how this is done. With the right policies, India has a good chance of seeing accelerated poverty reduction in the coming decades. As I have previously argued, this will require that India does a better job in reaching the country's many poor people through its social policies. However,...