The Centre’s flagship welfare plan has failed to turn the tide on a key problem: rural migration. The disconcerting admission about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or MNREGA, came in a paper released today by Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on the main challenges facing the programme and the reforms required. Checking distress migration is a key objective of the scheme, other than providing at least 100 days...

Ankaji Bhai Gangar, a 49-year-old subsistence farmer, stood in line in this remote village until, for the first time in his life, he squinted into the soft glow of a computer screen. His name, year of birth and address were recorded. A worker guided Mr. Gangar’s rough fingers to the glowing green surface of a scanner to record his fingerprints. He peered into an iris scanner shaped like binoculars that...

-PTI   Irom Sharmila, who has been on fast close to 11 years to demand the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur, feels Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption is "somewhat artificial." Called the 'Iron lady of Manipur', 37-year-old Sharmila also urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to treat her like Hazare, who on Sunday ended his 12-day fast against corruption that shook the nation. "It's (Anna Hazare's movement) somewhat artificial,...

The truth about the Indian media’s increasing reliance on revenues from news that has been paid for, has long been shrouded in half-truths, corporate denials and misleading information in carefully sifted reports sent out by regulatory bodies. While the national media, flush with high TRP ratings and advertising revenues, is patting itself on its self-righteous back for relentless coverage of the public protests against corruption in high places, it is...

-MSN   A Parliamentary committee has said discrepancies have come to the fore in the working of the Postal Department and the Rural Development ministry in dissemination of wages to workers under the MGNREGA scheme. "The inputs provided by both the departments i.e. Department of Post (DoP) and Department of Rural Development (DRD) indicate contradiction on various aspects particularly on the number of account and amount disbursed through Post," the report tabled in...