-IANS There were only 12 days of work per household in West Bengal under the rural jobs scheme MGNREGA as against the national average of 28 days, say NGOs who blame organisational inefficiency and faulty implementation for the situation in the state. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) assures 100 days of work for one member of every rural household in a year. But West Bengal's performance has...

kolkata : At a time when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is promising a revamp of the public distribution system and “food grains for all”, various right groups and unions working in the PDS sector are pressing for doing away with the system of private dealership of ration shops to stop pilferage of food grains. Representatives of Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, Sramjivi Samnaway Committee, West Bengal Government Employees Union (Nabaparjaya), ICDS...

Even though the Central Government agreed to link the wages paid under MG-NREGA to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPIAL), it shied away from paying statutory minimum wages in various states of India. Their logic for this: Lack of clarity on who will bear the extra financial burden—the Centre or the states? A letter from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to UPA and NAC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi dated 31...