-PTI PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today told the Centre that implementation of MGNREGA was suffering due to non-availability of funds even as the state government rejected CAG findings on the ambitious rural job scheme as totally "untrue and deceptive". "I have recently reviewed the implementation of MGNREGA in the state and it has been noticed that progress of implementation is suffering due to non-availability of funds," Kumar said in a...

-PTI Jaipur: After a recent incident in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, where a rape accused was beaten to death by the five-year-old victim's family members, a similar incident was reported in Hanumangarh where villagers lynched a man for allegedly trying to sexually assault a seven-year-old girl on Tuesday. A 53-year-old man from Gudiya village in Sangaria, Hanumangarh, Trilok Singh Bawri, allegedly took the seven-year-old girl from the village to his house and molested her...

-PTI Mamata Banerjee stages reversal of former apathy towards fate of those affected by Saradha Group demise Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee staged a reversal of her former apathy towards the fate of those whose savings had disappeared amid the collapse of the deposit-taking Saradha Group. Having said on Monday that "what has gone, has gone", Banerjee on Wednesday announced a 10 percentage point hike in value-added tax (VAT) on tobacco...

-The Financial Express Seven years after MGNREGA came into being, the CAG report tabled on Tuesday in Parliament paints a dismal picture of the UPA's flagship rural employment guarantee programme. According to the CAG, while employment generation fell from 54 days per household in FY10 to 43 days in FY12, states that account for 46% of the rural poor - Bihar, Maharashtra and UP - utilised only a fifth of the...

-The Hindu   Fault lies with States, unfair to blame Centre: CAG source The Comptroller and Auditor-General has found serious lapses in implementation of the UPA's flagship programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. In its second performance audit submitted to Parliament on Tuesday, the CAG said employment under the MGNREGS declined, funds were being diverted for other use and possible irregularities related to wage payments occurred. The audit covers implementation of the...