-The Hindu Business Line It has worked as a rural safety net. But the Centre has other budgetary priorities A decade after the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme came into force, the NDA government has come around to accepting its usefulness — and that, in a difficult agriculture year. Last February, the Prime Minister disparaged the programme for merely digging pits. But only a few days ago, the finance minister...

-Livemint.com Academic assessment of the scheme appears far more favourable than evident from the public discourse Ten years after it was launched, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which promises 100 days of employment to every rural household, is back in the news. More people in rural India are seeking employment through the programme across the country, with job numbers scaling a five-year peak. Although the MGNREGS seems to be...

-The Hindu There will be a unified national database of beneficiaries that can be updated in real-time and automatically trigger new benefits. The government has drawn up an ambitious plan to scale up the present regime for direct transfer of benefits to the poor under various welfare schemes, by creating a unified national database of beneficiaries that can be updated in real-time and automatically trigger new benefits such as vaccine shots for...

-The Indian Express Lack of adequate staff, payment delays undermine MGNREGA in a drought-hit district The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has completed 10 years and the NDA government recently claimed that its rule has resulted in a “transformation” in the implementation of the scheme. The veracity of the claim is highly questionable as we observe a wide lacuna in its implementation in several places. Here, we focus...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: In a rare initiative, the Tamil Nadu government has taken up waste management and conservancy in villages using the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to employ conservancy workers. The scheme is being implemented in 9,000 of 12,000 panchayats and more than 60,000 `Thuimai Kavalars` (sanitation workers) have been appointed so far. All workers are paid Rs.183 as daily wages. The Union rural development department...