-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...

Come November 11, the students at India’s 13 lakh government schools will receive a message from the Prime Minister. “Education gave me a new life,” it will say. “Education is the magic wand that can help us meet any challenge.” The written piece will be read out in the assembly at each school on that day, observed as National Education Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of India’s first education minister, Maulana...

-The Hindu   As the head of the largest trade union federation, Sharan Burrow represents the face of the worker at the high-tables of the world. Ms Burrow is the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which represents 175 million workers in 153 countries. Ahead of this week's G20 Summit in Cannes, Ms. Burrow has, in meetings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European leaders, warned of the...

-The Telegraph   The comptroller and auditor general today began a performance audit of the rural job scheme in 12 states, including Bengal, amid allegations of widespread corruption hobbling India’s largest social sector programme. The idea is to see whether the scheme has indeed secured villagers’ livelihood by providing guaranteed employment, and whether rules have been followed in its implementation. For instance, at least 60 per cent of the expenditure on every project under...

-The Economist   A maverick minister lays into a hallowed programme IT LOOKS like risky politics for Jairam Ramesh, who runs India’s biggest civilian ministry, in charge of rural development, to lash out at his own government’s flagship welfare scheme. Mr Ramesh, who got his cabinet post in July, has sparked a row in the past week over corruption and poor results within a public programme that guarantees 100 days of paid work...