Udayanath Kandhapan of Girligumma village under Dasmantpur block was engaged in a field canal work under the MGNREGA. But one year after the completion of the work, he is yet to get his wages; so are other labourers working on the project. They have approached concerned officials several times regarding the matter, but to no avail. Disturbed over the apathetic attitude of the officials, Kandhapan registered his grievance at the...
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Civil society groups to do NREGA audit again
The Manmohan Singh government has moved in to restore the role of civil society groups in conducting the social audit of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in an attempt to weed out corruption from various levels. The Rural Development Ministry is in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General to remove the lacuna that had cropped up after social audit rules were amended in 2009 to eliminate...
More »Wages of tokenism by TK Rajalakshmi
The revised daily wage for NREGS workers is still lower than the minimum wages paid in several States. A CONTROVERSY seems to have surfaced between the Prime Minister's Office and the National Advisory Council (NAC) on the issue of wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The NAC has been arguing for some time that there should be parity between wages under the National Rural Employment...
More »Of margins and the marginalised by Jayati Ghosh
The countrywide share of corporate retail in food distribution tripled in the past four years when retail food prices showed the greatest increase. THE dramatic increase in food inflation over the past two years has been associated with several surprises. One major surprise has been how the top economic policymakers in the country have responded to it. The initial response was one of apparent disbelief, followed very quickly by the...
More »No account auditing of Rs 1.08 lakh crore released under NREGA: Centre by Dhananjay Mahapatra
The Centre released Rs 1.08 lakh crore to states under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme since February 2006 but did not carry out account auditing at any level, the government told the Supreme Court on Friday. This admission by the Union of India meant violation of the intent of Section 24 of the Act, which says, "The central government may, in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General...
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