For the first time in the country, the Andhra Pradesh government is launching special courts for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on November 1 to try cases of misappropriation and fraud being committed by staff during its implementation. The special courts can impose a two-year jail term apart from ordering recovery of the amount defrauded by the accused officials if proved guilty. The courts, to be set...

With the focus now on the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, scheduled for early next year, the Congress led-UPA government has once again displayed its keenness to position itself with the agitating farmers by trying to ensure the passage of the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill during the winter session of Parliament. Assuming that the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to his department is likely to give all stakeholders a fair...

-The Telegraph   The Centre will award gram panchayats that have excelled in implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to encourage rural bodies to perform better. The Centre has asked Jharkhand to pick a specific gram panchayat, which implemented the flagship rural job scheme well, at each of its 24 districts. After the December rural polls, 4,564 gram panchayats with as many mukhiyas are in place, so the selection...

-The Times of India   With the Bhilwara pattern social audit of schemes under the MGNREGA shelved in the state, the alternative method is also coming under political pressure. A recent application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed letters from a minister and an MLA urging the social audit directorate not to conduct audit of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) schemes in villages falling in their constituencies....

-PTI   Dismissing charges of any sort of unfair treatment towards Jharkhand on developmental issues, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said Jharkhand spent only 1,558 crore on MGNREGA programmes. “There is a propaganda that Jharkhand is being discriminated. It is totally wrong. This year Jharkhand could spend only Rs. 1,558 crore on MGNREGA programmes, though it can spend Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000 crore under MGNREGA as it is a...