-The Indian Express MGNREGA is beset with failures of planning, execution, monitoring and accountability. This election season, we have seen the BJP seeking the people's mandate on the slogan "sab ka saath, sab ka vikas". The Congress harps primarily on a "we gave you" list. The first in this list is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA). The 11th Five Year Plan recognised that 30 crore people lived below the...
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The political economy cycle in India-Pramit Bhattacharya
-Live Mint As a democracy matures, citizens become more willing to trust elected representatives to plan and take steps for the long-term growth and development One common complaint during this election has been that the election commission (EC) has to be consulted before the government and its regulatory agencies take any routine decision. Decisions relating to gas price hikes and bank licences all had to be cleared by the EC, whose over...
More »Gujarat pulls economic data from website before Lok Sabha elections -Kartikay Mehrotra
-BLOOMBERG Keeping the economic data available on website may violate the Election Commission's code of conduct, says state economic statistics director New Delhi: Gujarat led by Narendra Modi, whose party leads in polls to win general elections starting next month, has blocked access to official economic data on its website during the campaign. The directorate of economic statistics in Gujarat, the state Modi has run since 2001, has removed access to publications...
More »Food subsidy can fill poverty gap, twice-Puja Mehra
-The Hindu Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's estimate for India's 2014-15 food subsidy bill of Rs 1,15,000 crore in the interim budget is more than twice of India's Poverty Gap, or the cost of pushing all households above the poverty line if cash transfers were used instead. The Poverty Gap for India, as per the latest NSSO Consumption Expenditure Survey data available (for the year 2011-12) is Rs. 55,744 crore. A...
More »Blamed for ‘policy jam’, but CAG can’t monitor 60% of govt schemes -Sandeep Pai
-The Hindustan Times Facing allegations of policy paralysis, the government has often said bureaucrats are afraid to take decisions in the face of increased scrutiny by the national auditor, but HT has found that CAG doesn't have the authority to monitor more than half of the Centre's schemes and programmes. In fact, a draft bill to broaden and clarify the powers of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which has had several run-ins...
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