Says she failed to act against officials who swindled MGNREGS funds, presses for CBI probe The war of words between the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party in the run-up to the Assembly elections has intensified, with a Union Minister blaming Chief Minister Mayawati for failing to act against officials who had allegedly swindled funds of a Central government scheme in seven districts of Uttar Pradesh. Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam...

After being mired in controversies across the nation over multi-crore scams, the MGNREGA scheme hasn’t quite made headway in Bulandshahr district’s Anupshahr yet, say Bhamati Sivapalan and Yamini Deenadayalan “MGNREGA is a flop in Uttar Pradesh,” extended NGO worker Manish Sharma, as small talk, at the block development office of Anupshahr in the Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh. Despite having been in force since 2005, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment...

The UID in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act may simplify the administrator's task, but will not make a poor man's task any easier. EVERY time there is talk of tinkering with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), it is time we recalled how and why the Act came into existence. The passage of the NREGA was Parliament's response to a people's movement that grew out of the recognition and...

The UPA government has decided to allow cash payment of wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in a desperate bid to increase demand for jobs that had gone down due to delayed payment of remuneration. Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Monday made the announcement stating that the facility would be allowed in all the 60 left wing extremist (LWE) affected districts where...

Maharashtra, pioneer of the employment guarantee scheme 35 years ago, is now the worst performer under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) with the home districts of some of its tallest leaders dragging it down. For instance, Pune, home district of Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, has provided negligible work in the past two years despite strong demand for employment. As per the official figures for the current year,...