-The Hindu Chennai: In a move to usher in more transparency in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) will evolve standards to audit the scheme in 2.5 lakh villages, said ICAI president, Subodh Kumar Agarwal on Friday. Briefing reporters, he said ICAI would evolve a standardised procedure as the auditing of the MGNREGA scheme was unstructured one. He also urged the Centre...

-The Hindu The government has reiterated that it will implement the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) in a phased manner to ensure targeted and time-bound delivery of results. Recently, in a reply to a question posed in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Rural Development Pradeep Jain had said that it was the NRLM's mandate to guarantee that at least one member from each identified rural poor household, preferably a woman,...

-The Hindu I am sure all efforts are being made, but no arrests have yet been made, said Jairam Patna: Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has written to Bihar Chief Minister raising concerns over the recent murders of RTI activists in Bihar. Mr. Ramesh said in the letter that his ministry was working on a protocol - that would be applicable for the entire country - for such cases. In two recent incidents,...

-Down to Earth For RTI activists of Bihar the cost of exposing corruption is life Twenty-year-old Rahul Kumar, a right to information (RTI) activist, knew the land mafia was behind his parents' murder. His mother and father were involved in a land dispute in Muzaffarpur's Sirisia Jagdish village. Barely a week after filing an RTI application to seek information about the murderers, Kumar was kidnapped. A day later, on March 10, 2012,...

-The Economic Times The UPA government's flagship employment guarantee programme can play an important role in conserving natural resources and sustaining water supply and food production, according to a study. Conceived to provide livelihood security for the rural poor, the scheme can also help reduce and counter the impact of climate change in villages, according to the study, "Environmental Benefits and Vulnerability Reduction through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme"...