The Lokpal is designed to be a comprehensive anti-corruption institution independent of the government, empowered to effectively investigate corruption of all public servants. But most of the critical elements in this vision have been rejected. The latest draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on hydrocarbon production sharing contracts and the transfer of oilfields to Reliance is only the latest of the mega scams to surface in...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Undermining people’s power - A story of five years by Nikhil Dey
More than five years have passed since the world’s largest employment programme was launched in India. The scale of employment generated was not the only reason that this is a path breaking legislation. The MGNREGA is the first national law to establish rights in the development sector. It is demand based, and not constrained by arbitrary and restrictive selections like the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list. Any person living in a...
More »Centre shifts NREGA focus, targets assets creation by Maulshree Seth
Five years after launching the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the UPA government is now shifting the focus from mere employment generation to creation of durable assets. With this focus, the Union Ministry of Rural Development has come out with the “MGNREGA works field manual”, which lays down “do’s and don’ts” for the states. The manual has been prepared by a team of experts headed by GN Sharma, who is consultant...
More »NREGS and the fast disappearing artisan by Nirmala Sitharaman
A thinking government, regional or central, would ensure sustainable wages for skilled artisans and help them market the handcrafted products, instead of letting them join the NREGS queue. The design and execution of the much-touted National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) are likely to leave a lasting impact on some areas of our economy. Surely, the prototype version did not foresee that it would act as a catalyst for changes that...
More »NREGS auditors in State go without pay by Bhakti V Hegde
After questions were raised recently on the ''leakages'' in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), another concern – non-payment of salaries to social auditors in Karnataka –might well have broad implications for the programme in the State. For the past six months, the social auditors who are responsible for supervising, guiding, rectifying errors in the programme’s implementation, and motivating people to take up more and jobs under the...
More »