The much-vaunted NREGA has defaulted on many of its promises “There are many households in our village who have NREGA cards but have not sought work for over two years,” says 32-year-old Umesh Kumar, gram pradhan of Bhainswal village, in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, Kumar recounts having to actually go around persuading people to come for work “whenever we get projects for implementation under NREGA”. This first-time...

-IANS For 25 years, Mohammad Ikram worked day and night in Saudi Arabia to fund the education of his four sons back home here, waiting for the day they would be able to stand on their own feet. But they dropped out of school and ruined his hopes forever. He is just one of many men in Azamgarh who left their families to eke out a living and support the education of...

The National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) on Tuesday questioned the “appropriateness” of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, 2011, in respect of the proposed watchdog's independence, empowerment, jurisdiction and accountability. “The appropriateness of the Bill could well be determined by asking questions such as whether … [the proposed Lokpal] is adequately independent of the government, whether it is adequately empowered to detect, investigate and prosecute cases of corruption, had...

Most of the respondents in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala prefer an effective PDS to cash transfer. THE survey of the public distribution system (PDS) in nine States, of which I was a part in Himachal Pradesh (Sirmaur district), Uttar Pradesh (Jaunpur district) and Kerala (Wayanad district), came as an eye-opener to me on many counts. If Himachal Pradesh stood out for the innocence of its people, Uttar Pradesh...

The state government has been blamed for actively aiding and abetting the Adarsh housing society scam, in a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, which was tabled in the legislative assembly on Friday. Accusing the state Machinery of overlooking subversion of rules and regulations by the society and granting unreasonable concessions, the CAG has termed the scam as a "failure in governance at all levels". Many officers,...