The ministry of rural development has written to all the states warning them not to go slow or suspend works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act at any point of time in the year. The communication reminding the provisions of the right to work Act comes in the wake of reports that some states are going slow in execution of works under the UPA's flagship social sector programme,...

-Express News Service   The state government, on Tuesday, sealed documents related to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in four blocks of Sonbhadra following reports of anomalies in implementation of the scheme in the district. The action was taken on the report on misappropriation of scheme funds submitted by Central investigation team early this year. The Central team was headed by GN Sharma, consultant, Union Ministry of Rural Development. On Monday,...

As the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) has failed to effectively take off in the backward Bani tehsil of Kathua district, the authorities have decided to involve newly-elected sarpanches and panches to make the poverty-alleviation scheme functional in the area. Earlier officials of the Rural Development Department (RDD) implemented the scheme, which evoked a poor response, as the residents of the Bani area preferred to work as...

New rural development minister Jairam Ramesh is working to overhaul the United Progressive Alliance's six-year old flagship rural jobs programme to rid it of all 'manmade' flaws and make the job entitlement more demand driven. The Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNERGA), which costs the government Rs 40,000 crore a year - the largest spend on any social welfare scheme - played a key role in catapulting theUPA government...

New-look programme to be rolled out in 2,000 most backward blocks within a year As part of a coordinated and aligned initiative, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, a re-energised Union Rural Development Ministry and the Planning Commission are working in tandem to make up for the time and money lost due to the underperformance in UPA-II on the government's flagship programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Even as...