-IANS Lucknow, April 27: Seema Saroj, a resident of Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh, was denied payment under the rural jobs scheme for months. She then joined Nari Sangh, a women's group working for the rights of people, and took on the authorities to get her pending dues. Saroj is one among over 80,000 women from 666 gram panchayats in nine districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh who have, under the umbrella of...

-The Hindu Suspicious of BDA's track record, they continue their blockade of notified land seeking full compensation The Bangalore Development Authority appears to be facing a trust deficit as its officials attempt to pacify agitating farmers who have put a stop to the progress of the Arkavathy Layout. The project has not seen progress since March 21 when farmers blocked BDA officials from entering the notified land. In recent days, the BDA...

Notwithstanding apprehensions expressed by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on the proposal of giving grain as part payment of wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, food minister KV Thomas  on Sunday continued to support the idea. Thomas said, “There is enough surplus grain to be given to poor families.” In a recent letter to the Jairam Ramesh, Thomas had made the proposal, which he said would also help ease...

They prefer to migrate to cities to earn a livelihood ‘Apply for work, get work, and get paid on time.' This is how the Union government's scheme promising 100 days of guaranteed work in a financial year to a rural household took off in 2006. However, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) has failed to come as a relief for people especially those in drought-hit regions of the...

-The Financial Express Food minister KV Thomas’ proposal of giving grain as part payment of wages under the MGNREGA stands to undo most of the progress the government has made in trying to curb leakages in distribution of subsidies. While close to half of food to be given through ration shops is believed to be making its way to the open market, the UIDAI-based system’s attempt is to give cash grants...