Civil society groups have opposed a government proposal to rid its flagship rural jobs guarantee programme of malpractices, saying the plan is "hazy and lacks clear direction". The opposition to the proposal, which seeks social and financial audits of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), comes at a time when the government is facing the heat of a campaign led by social activist Anna Hazare over...

Vinod Rai’s searing honesty in his job as the country’s CAG has the government in many a bind CAG Catch 1     2G Spectrum, 2010     The CAG audit over a six-year period from 2003 finds loopholes in the implementation of norms, leading to DoT allocating spectrum at 2001 prices. Estimated loss to exchequer: the now-household figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.     Outcome Former telecom minister A. Raja, MP Kanimozhi, telecom and...

West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee moves closer to keeping her promise to return to ‘unwilling' farmers the land given to Tata Motors. WITH the passage of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee got one step closer to keeping the promise made to the people of Singur that she would reclaim the land allocated to Tata Motors and return it to “unwilling” farmers (that...

-Express News Service   After initial refusal to sanction funds under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to the six districts under CBI scanner, the Centre on Monday released Rs 170 crore for the wage employment programme. “The Government received the Central assistance and this has been distributed among six districts,” said Panchayati Raj Secretary PK Jena.  Though the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) released the first installment of `...

In another case of alleged fraud during implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Meghalaya, a father-son duo duped gullible villagers in the name of implementation of the Central scheme. The matter came to light after villagers from Thadan village, 40 km from here, got wind of the scam and filed a Right To Information (RTI) application which showed their names enlisted as workers having job cards. Louis...