On a day the Bokaro district administration went on an overdrive to tighten the noose around unscrupulous MGNREGS contractors, the state government claimed in the Assembly that the death of worker Subal Mahto wasn’t remotely connected to rampant corruption in the Centre’s flagship rural job scheme. Reprimanded by Union rural development secretary B.K. Sinha over the recent killings of the Bokaro labourer and MGNREGS crusader Niyamat Ansari, the government today made...
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From crusaders to fugitives by Santosh K Kiro
Niyamat was brave. But Bhukhan wants to live. The brutal killing of MGNREGS crusader and Jean Drèze aide Niyamat Ansari has triggered an exodus from his native village of Jerua in Latehar’s Manika block. And alarmed co-worker Bhukhan Singh, whose house was also targeted on that fateful March 2 night, is leading this unnerved group. In fact, the horror isn’t just limited to Jerua, rural job scheme activists in several neighbouring villages...
More »MGNREGA funds blues go on
An alleged nexus between touts and administrative officials has led to irregularities in execution of the MGNREGA schemes in the district. The Bhawnathpur block of Garhwa district exemplifies the extent of corruption that has rotten the MGNREGA system in this part of the state. As a result, people living in the far-flung areas are devoid of the benefit of the central money allocated for them. Heavy machines, such as excavators,...
More »Centre decrees: CBI will probe any NREGS fraud by Maulshree Seth
In a move likely to raise the hackles of states, the Union Ministry of Rural Development has decided that all criminal offences in the implementation of the NREGA would in future be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), whenever the state government fails to take satisfactory action. In a circular sent to all states on Thursday, the ministry said that in cases of system failures or non-criminal lapses, a...
More »Why was Niyamat Ansari Killed? : The Politics of NREGA and the Maoists by Avanish Kumar
The gruesome murder of NREGA activist Niyamat Ansari has shocked the progressive civil society and political groups in the country. According to reports (one, two), Niyamat Ansari had exposed a case of corruption in NREGA and an FIR was lodged against a former BDO and another Panchayat Sevak of Manika block, Latehar (Jharkhand). On 2nd March 2011, Niyamat Ansari was picked from his house and beaten to death. The reports...
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