The pitched Centre-state spat overNational Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(NREGS) is likely to reach its breaking pointsoon. On Friday, Sanjay Dixit, a member of Central Employment Guarantee Council, slammed thestate government for not pulling up senior state government officials for improper implementation of the scheme. Speaking to TOI, Dixit confirmed that the Centrewill, in the next one month, stop fund flow to at least 14 districts of UP, because of large scale misappropriation...
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NREGA's new avatar: Work later, take home cash now by Devika Banerji
The government is likely to allow advance part payment of wages in a bid to restore faith of beneficiaries in its flagship rural jobs scheme. The proposal is part of a slew of measures to address mounting criticism of the centrally-funded Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) which is beset by administrative logjam and charges of leakages. The rural development ministry has asked states to initiate a monthlong pilot...
More »NREGA Lines Pockets. Not of the Poor by Abhishek Bhalla
JANGU, 40, a Dalit labourer in Paraspur village in Gonda district, 120 km northeast of Lucknow, displays his job card in complete disbelief. “My job card was made three years ago and shows three payments. But I was never given any work, so how was the payment made?” he asks, puzzled. The first entry shows a payment of Rs 1,400 but he received a paltry Rs 100. He never went...
More »How reliable is UID? by R Ramachandran
At the technical level, the question is whether the technology deployed for identification will return answers that are unambiguous. THE Unique Identification (UID) project, the national project of the Government of India, aims to give a unique 12-digit number – called Aadhaar – to every citizen of the country, a random number that is generated and linked to a person's demographic and biometric information. The key word is “unique”. Launched in...
More »Jairam brushes aside objections, backs Gujarat NREGS audit model by Ravish Tiwari
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday gave a thumbs-up to the independent social audit mechanism adopted by the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government for the NREGS. He brushed aside reservations expressed by a member of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC), the apex monitoring agency for the rural job guarantee scheme, while endorsing Gujarat’s model. “Let there be multiplicity of mechanisms. They need to be independent and transparent. It can be...
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