Just reclassified Rs 1.46 lakh crore of spending as capital investment. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s Budget for 2011-12 seems to have used a new accounting system to make a virtue of necessity. Committed to provide funds to run the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or MGNREGS, Mukherjee has transferred the entire financial allocation for the scheme under a head that will now help him take credit for a reduced effective...
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Four weeks for Centre to clarify stand on CBI probe into ‘misuse' of MGNREGA funds: court by J Venkatesan
The Supreme Court on Monday granted four weeks to the Centre to take a clear stand regarding a CBI probe into alleged misuse of funds allocated to the States. The court was dealing with a petition alleging misappropriation of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Orissa. In an interim order on the writ petition filed by the Centre for Environment and Food Security, a three-Judge Bench,...
More »Centre's step pushes UP govt into corner by Swati Mathur
The seemingly never-ending slugfest between the Centre and state governments over the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has taken a new twist in Uttar Pradesh. The Union ministry of rural development, in a circular dated 11 March, has laid down detailed processes that will be invoked in cases where the Centre receives any complaint regarding the issue or improper utilisation of funds. Though the Central government notification...
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 »Aadhaar sets stage for cash transfers by Surabhi Agarwal
In line with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget announcement on Monday that the government is looking at direct cash transfers as an alternative to the current subsidy on kerosene and fertilizers and to prevent leakages, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is planning to open Aadhaar-linked bank accounts for the purpose. These can be used for other financial transactions as well. The authority is in the process of empanelling banks...
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