-The Guardian After a decade of success, the landmark scheme is being starved of money by a central government seemingly intent on reining in rural wage growth Ten years ago this week, the Indian parliament unanimously passed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). It was a historic legislation based on two interlinked goals: ensuring livelihood security to rural residents by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment...

-The Hindu Why do we not have a clear answer on just how much grain is leaking out of the Public Distribution System? If you're interested in just what ‘leakage' means and how it's worked out, here's a little primer. So first: what is leakage? Since we know anecdotally that many households do not get all the grain they are entitled to, we can assume some is being illegally diverted. It's...

-Business Standard Sensible suggestions from Shanta Kumar panel on food security The Shanta Kumar committee on food sector reforms has made a slew of recommendations - many of which, even if controversial, make sense. Apart from suggesting downsizing of the unwieldy, inefficient and corruption-ridden Food Corporation of India (FCI) by outsourcing many of its tasks to the states and other public- and private-sector bodies, the panel has laid out certain amendments to...

-The Hindu Reforms must be part of a continuing agenda. The basic principle guiding reforms must be to create a competitive environment with a stress on efficiency. In many ways the coming decade will be crucial for India as growth is the answer to many of its socio-economic problems The data on national income released recently give a new twist to India's growth story. The most significant change is with respect to...

-The Indian Express In yet another indication of the dismal performance of the scheme this financial year, less than 3 per cent households were able to complete the promised 100 days of employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) this year, effectively meaning that 97 per cent of the beneficiaries have not been able to use the scheme to its maximum intended capacity. Introduced in February 2006, MGNREGA...