The government put out a promised new price index on Friday that will capture changes in prices of goods and services sold at the retail level, helping the government and the central bank get a better grip on policy tools while tackling inflation. Central banks world over rely on retail prices while framing monetary policy, but the Reserve Bank of India has had to consider mostly the wholesale price index...

Altogether 17 workers of Dungarpur district have received unemployment allowance after they were not given work under provisions of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Since implementation of the MGNREGA in the state, this is the second such instance of unemployment allowance payment, widely seen as an assertion of the workers' right under the Act. In 2009, a lone labourer in Bhilwara was paid the allowance after...

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 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act — or MGNREGA as it is commonly known — has completed five years. Since its inception, I remember how joyous I was while becoming part of the process of its being passed in the Lok Sabha. In fact, we were restless for the delay in the presenting of the standing committee's report. I felt it took too long a time in deliberating...

There are many critics and sceptics with respect to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which came into being because of political pressure that managed to overcome quite strenuous opposition from some of the most influential policy making circles. It is likely that much of this criticism is not really because of the declared reasons, like fiscal costs (which are thus far very little) and potential leakage. Rather,...