-Newsclick.in The additional funds of Rs 6,084 crore released recently will go into clearing the backlog of pending liabilities. Contrary to the claims of highest ever allocation to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the social security scheme that aims to guarantee the right to work is facing severe fund crisis – with state governments left with no funds to pay workers. From October 2018 to February 1, no...
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The solution is universal -Rajendran Narayanan & Debmalya Nandy
-The Hindu Strengthening the MGNREGA would be more prudent than a targeted cash transfer plan like PM-KISAN Rural distress has hit unprecedented levels. According to news reports, unemployment is the highest in 45 years. To allay some misgivings of the distress, one of the announcements in the Budget speech was that “vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land up to 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of...
More »No budget for farmers -Ashok Gulati
-The Indian Express Direct income support for farmers is too late, too little The hopes of farmers for a meaningful package from the Modi government have evaporated after the announcements in the Union budget. The proposed Rs 6,000 annual direct income support to small and marginal farmers is a drop in the ocean. States like Telangana and Odisha have done much better with their Rythu Bandhu and Kalia schemes respectively. After...
More »With an ocean of salt -Rajeev Gowda
-The Indian Express Interim budget does little to tackle unemployment, poverty. And it is clear that the government’s figures cannot be trusted. Last month, I was part of an all-party delegation of MPs from Karnataka, led by a Union cabinet minister, who met the Union rural development minister. We requested him to release the MGNREGA funds overdue to Karnataka. We pleaded that the poorest of the poor, who turn to MGNREGA...
More »MGNREGA workers in Jharkhand demand increase in wages and number of days of guaranteed work
-Press release by NREGA Watch (Jharkhand) dated 2nd February, 2019 Thousands of NREGA workers across Jharkhand spilled to the streets today to express their anger at the continued denial of their entitlements. In over 30 blocks of the state, workers raised their voice against the abysmal wage rate, acute shortage of work, increasing delays in payment of wages, and violation of several other rights. They also demanded work and submitted grievances...
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