While a CAG audit is welcome, it alone won’t improve the effectiveness of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh’s recent decision to ask the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) to audit MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) funds has created a buzz among social sector observers. They’ve been demanding reforms in MGNREGA’s implementation to arrest the slide in its effectiveness. The...

Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh wants an urgent CBI inquiry into what he called brazen violation and deliberate embezzlement of MGNREGA funds in Uttar Pradesh. In a strongly worded letter to CM Mayawati — in the run up to the UP polls early next year — Ramesh described the inaction in dealing with the corrupt as a signal by the state to make money by openly flouting all procedures. "And...

Five days after Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi accused Mayawati government in UP of mega-scale corruption in the centrally sponsored schemes, union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has shot off a letter to UP chief minister Mayawati citing a huge scam in the MNREGA scheme in the state. According to sources, Jairam has specifically mentioned seven districts Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Sant Kabir Nagar and Mirzapur where central funds have...

CNN-IBN   Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati citing a huge scam in MNREGA scheme in the state. Jairam has cited seven districts spread across UP where central funds have been allegedly misused by the state. These districts are Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Sant Kabir Nagar and Mirzapur.   The letter talks about the budget for MNREGA scheme in UP to be above Rs 5000 crore. Jairam has written...

-The Business Standard   A day before the National Development Council is scheduled to meet and possibly debate on the poverty line and the Food Security Bill, the second India Human Development Report -2011 has said India progressed well in social development front, with higher enrollment rates in education, and a shift towards social inclusion of marginalised communities and minorities. The report, by the Institute of Applied Manpower Research, an autonomous body under...