The sarpanches of Rajasthan who have been opposing social audit by NGOs in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) now have a supporter at the Centre. Union minister for rural development and panchayati raj, C P Joshi on Thursday said the Act governing the scheme had provisions that the audit be done by the gram sabha. "Section 13(B) of the Act provides that the gram sabha have...

Ahead of a UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) review meeting in New York next week, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, Sunday said that decentralisation of power was the key to fighting poverty and hunger. 'The major lacuna in the strategy for MDG is that it ignores the crucial delivery aspect of poverty and hunger eradication. While most countries in the world, developed and developing,...

With a huge amount of funds riding on various rural development programmes, the Manmohan Singh government has now turned its sights on reforming and strengthening the panchayati raj system. And the task is going to start at the level of the gram panchayats, which are the vehicle for the implementation of most of the rural development projects. The ministry of rural development and panchayati raj institutions is presently in the...

Food rights activists demand universalisation and decentralisation of PDS A large number of food rights activists staged a protest outside the godown of the Food Corporation of India in Rourkela on Sunday demanding equitable distribution of food grains and universalisation and decentralisation of the public distribution system (PDS). More than 1,500 activists, academicians and those involved in various people's movements participated in the agitation against the rotting of food grains in...

For two decades the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) has taken the Right to Information Act to the grassroots. KAVERI GILL was witness to a mela that celebrated its 20th anniversary at Bhim, Rajasthan.  The occasion was no political party rally, nor was there any promise of handouts by the state, dangling a carrot or wielding a stick to elicit attendance On Labour Day, a maidan in Bhim, District Rajsamand,...