The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) may have revolutionised rural households in more ways than one but on the flip side the UPA government’s flagship scheme has affected agricultural production. Reports on the “negative influence” of NREGA have poured in from every nook and cranny of Meghalaya though the scheme aims to enhance the livelihood and security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing 100 days of wage-employment in a...
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Irregularity detected in rural employment scheme
A case of irregularity in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has been detected in Karanjakala block of Jaunpur district. Joint director (industry) Indramohan Dubey, in his inspection report submitted to divisional commissioner Ajay Kumar Upadhyaya, mentioned that job cards of workers were not made in Vibi gram sabha of Karanjakala block. Locals told him that they had given applications for this purpose but they were not given job...
More »Father struggles to get NREGA wages, son dies in hospital by Supriya Sharma
A week after he lost his ailing son, and ten months after he worked on a village road project, Pitbasu Bhoi finally got the ten thousand rupees he had earned under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Program (MNREGA). "Of what use is the money now? I have just immersed my son's ashes. When I needed the money to save his life, I did not have it," says Bhoi. The...
More »Maximum Dithering for Minimum Wages!
Even though the Central Government agreed to link the wages paid under MG-NREGA to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPIAL), it shied away from paying statutory minimum wages in various states of India. Their logic for this: Lack of clarity on who will bear the extra financial burden—the Centre or the states? A letter from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to UPA and NAC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi dated 31...
More »My new portfolio not connected to farm suicides: Vilasrao
A day after being sworn in, Rural Development Minister Vilasrao Deskmukh Thursday said the Supreme Court's observation on his links with moneylenders who harass farmers was an "isolated incident". He also said there was no link between his new portfolio and farmer suicides in Maharashtra. "One isolated incident cannot be connected with other things," Deshmukh told reporters after taking charge. The court last month had raised questions on the former Maharashtra...
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