Bottlenecks at every stage in the implementation of MGNREGA in Atra village in Chhattisgarh are making the villagers disillusioned. “If payment is unreliable, the poorest and the most vulnerable opt out of the system...” On a rainy day in September, Bir Singh Malekar, 45, rues his decision to stay back in Atra village in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district this summer, instead of leaving in search of work. “I usually go to Chennai between...

The controversy over the refusal of Ministry of Rural Development to pay minimum wages under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is now bothering even the Congress-ruled States including Andhra Pradesh which has sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah has been forced to write to the Prime Minister in the wake of the MORD not complying with the orders of the A.P. High Court suspending the...

The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has asked the government to ensure that over one crore workers enrolled under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) should get wages as per minimum wages applicable in different states. As of now, those enrolled in the world’s biggest job guarantee scheme in 19 states get wages less than what has been prescribed under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. In some states,...

The National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Sonia Gandhi has endorsed the proposal of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) that the Minimum Wages Act be adhered to even for workers under MGNREGA. The NAC endorsement came on Saturday during its meeting in New Delhi. Earlier on Saturday, during a meeting of the sub-group of the CEGC, attended by representatives from about six states, the issue of minimum wages being paid...

The Reserve Bank of India has agreed to Jharkhand's request for banks having at least one-day-per-week branch in every panchayat to help beneficiaries draw wages under MGNREGA and money under social security schemes, a senior official said here today."The RBI has agreed to our request that banks should make efforts to open at least one-day-per-week branches in panchayats so that withdrawing wages under MGNREGA, (money under) social security and scholarships...