A Planning Commission evaluation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has questioned the effectiveness of projects implemented under the Act in boosting productivity and creating assets. NREGA, the Union government’s flagship anti-poverty programme that promises 100 days of employment every year to the rural poor, is partly credited with driving the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to victory in the April-May general election. In a presentation made at Prime Minister...

At least two cases of hunger deaths have been reported from Jabalpur district of MP and Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan in the past few weeks. The two states are run by different political parties-- the BJP and the Congress-- but there is quite a lot common in the victims’ circumstances. Both families were among the poorest in their villages but were not included in the BPL list and both the...

A landless labourer dies on Christmas day after going without food for five days. Neither he nor his wife, who was a job card holder under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, knew they could demand work or avail of unemployment benefits as a right It was a death that could have been avoided. Kishen Singh, a 45-year-old landless labourer, died of hunger in Champakheda village in south Rajasthan. What...

Why is the government aggressively attacking and destroying inexpensive eco-friendly technologies and promoting pollution-friendly ones? Are we obliged to repeat all the mistakes that the West committed in its pursuit of economic growth? While it makes sense to corner First World countries into investing in eco- friendly technologies to control carbon emissions, as was attempted at Copenhagen, the stand of the Indian government that India cannot afford to enforce better...

The District Rural Development Agency has hiked the wage from January 1 ERODE: Hike in National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) wage has got Erode farmers worried about labour shortage. Following State Government’s instruction, the District Rural Development Agency, which oversees NREGS implementation, hiked the wage January 1 onwards by Rs. 20 to Rs. 100 a day. Under NREGS below poverty line families get work for 100 days a year, which is...