The sarpanches of Rajasthan who have been opposing social audit by NGOs in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) now have a supporter at the Centre. Union minister for rural development and panchayati raj, C P Joshi on Thursday said the Act governing the scheme had provisions that the audit be done by the gram sabha. "Section 13(B) of the Act provides that the gram sabha have...
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Hope floats in great flood by Pankaj Jaiswal
Bhaggu, 65, says he can trace his memory back to when he was five. And he remembers the paradox that’s taunted him since: Of his village — Sohras, in northern Uttar Pradesh — being flooded every year and him having no water to drink. “They (government) distribute food, tarpaulin, kerosene, matchboxes but never made any arrangement for water,” says Bhaggu, a farm worker who goes by one name. “I think no...
More »MGNREGA: Mixed success so far
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MG-NREGA) has been in news mainly due to corruption or inefficiency. The country has spent close to Rs 40,000 crore this fiscal but a large number of urban middle class people and opinion leaders don’t know what to make of it. Cynicism apart, the rights-based scheme has proved to be a game-changer in rural India despite mixed success. The scheme has been relatively...
More »India Holds Government Accountable For Millennium Development Goals by Pamela Philipose
Among the various definitions of "noise" is this one: "Something that draws public notice". And "Making Noise" is precisely what groups all over India are doing, or planning to do, in the days ahead in order to wake up the government to its promises. In the year 2000, India was among the countries that had signed on to achieve, by 2015, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals...
More »Safe Drinking Water: Time to Act by Anil Padmanabhan
All speakers addressing the main session of the World Water Week in Sweden during 5-11 September were presented with a beautifully wrapped bottle of tap water! Yes, you heard right: tap water from Stockholm. It is a symbol of achievement that the Swedes love to flaunt—and rightly so. It is also the best gift the Indian government can give to all Indians in general, and particularly those 500-odd million that live...
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