At the instance of the Supreme Court, the Union government has initiated steps for an out-of-the-court settlement of the controversy arising from non-payment of minimum wages to MGNREGS workers. While admitting the Centre's special leave petition challenging the Karnataka High Court ruling in September for payment of minimum wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme along with arrears, the Supreme Court, however, refused to stay...

-The Pioneer   Alleging large scale irregularities in the implementation of the Union Government’s flagship programme, Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MgNREGA) in the State, the opposition on Wednesday demanded that the Odisha Government should extend the ongoing CBI probe to all the remaining 26 districts. However, Panchayati Raj Minister Maheswar Mohanty rejected the allegation. Since the charges of large scale corruption as levelled by the Center for Environmental Studies and...

-PTI Himachal Pradesh has been declared as the best state for implementation of and providing employment to women under MgNREGA, the Vidhan Sabha was informed today. Replying to a question, rural development Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that while the national average was 49 per cent, 60 per cent women were given employment in the state. He said that during 2011-12, an amount of Rs 405.02 crore had been spent under...

-IANS The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government will soon move the central government to increase Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MgNREGA) wages to Rs.200 from Rs.136. Unhappy with the central government hiking the wage for the 100-day rural job guarantee programme from Rs.130 to Rs.136 in the state, West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress is planning to take up the issue with New Delhi. "We will soon demand that the central government...

-Live Mint   Divisions between the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI, or Aadhaar) and the home ministry grew wider on Thursday after the Nandan Nilekani-led entity and the department of information technology (DIT) raised objections to the Resident Identity Card (RIC) scheme. Three high-ranking officials, who spoke independently and on condition of anonymity, said a meeting of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) to clear Rs. 6,790 crore for the home ministry’s RIC...