Sometime this month, Justice N Ramamohana Rao of the Andhra Pradesh High Court will deliver a verdict that will directly impact earnings of the 114 million people who work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Central government's work guarantee programme. The verdict will also indirectly impact earnings of the 400 million workers and labourers who toil in India's factories and fields for 'minimum wages'. The question Justice Rao...
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In Jharkhand, children slug it out in ‘rat holes' to make a living by Ipsita Pati
Many work in unscientifically built mines, employing crude methods and risking their lives The mines in Hazaribagh district are manned mostly by children aged between 7 and 17 Exposure to dust and coal particles has left them with respiratory problems Javir Kumar, 14, works in illegal coal mines, each a “rat hole,” 10x10 foot and 400 foot deep, where a mere slip of the foot will plunge one to a certain death. A large...
More »NREGA Administration By States Remains A Cause For Concern by Devika Banerji
The government’s flagship rural employment scheme is struggling to make an impact as the capacity building in the scheme has slowed down to a crawl. The overall fund utilisation in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act, or MGNREGA, has plummeted to 60%. Most states were unable to utilise even half of the funds slotted for administrative expenses, stalling administrative reforms that are expected to increase the efficiency of the...
More »Securing food for an emerging India by Rana Kapoor
The world population is estimated to reach nine billion by 2050. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that global food production needs to increase 70 per cent by 2050 compared to average 2005-07 levels to feed the rising global population. Clearly, a large part of the consumption will happen in India and China; which would require an additional 1.6 billion hectares of land to be brought into cultivation compared to...
More »Food Deficit in Kerala: Exploring the Possibility of NREGS by AD Manikandan
Kerala has a long history of foodgrains deficit, especially in rice. For instance, deficit in rice has increased steadily in the State from 45 per cent to 85 per cent between 1957 and 2008. However, not enough attention has been paid to mitigate the food insecurity problem in the State in the context where there has been a large scale decline in the area and production of paddy. This paper...
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