-The Times of India   Twelve states, including Madhya Pradesh, will go under the CAG scanner to audit alleged corruption and irregularities in the implementation of the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), a pet project of the UPA Centre.  Out of the 12 states to be investigated, at least four are BJP-ruled, which are going to the polls in the next 18 months. BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka go to...

Officials may pocket the wage increases, but the wage level in MGNREGA seems just enough to induce workers to turn up. This year marks the sixth anniversary of the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), India's landmark right-to-work programme. The Act guarantees 100 days of paid employment to every rural household in India (up to 850 million people), regardless of eligibility criteria, and establishes the government's...

Between March 10 and March 17 this year, troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the CRPF's special Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), and the Chhattisgarh Police's Special Task Force entered Abujmard: a 6,000 sq.km expanse of uncharted forest described, by some, as a liberated territory controlled by guerilla forces of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Security forces have arrested 13 villagers suspected of belonging to the banned...

-PTI Terming mining as the "greatest threat" faced by the tribal community in last two decades, Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo has asked the youths selected under an ambitious programme to create awareness among the forest dwellers about their constitutional rights over the land.  "Today the greatest threat that has come to the tribals and people living in forest areas is actually the threat of mining," the Minister told the youths...

-The Hindu Selected youth will work in LEW-affected districts Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh launched the Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellowship (PMRDF) programme here on Saturday. Under the programme, 156 youth selected for the fellowship would work in 78 Left-wing extremism (LWE)-affected districts covered in the integrated action plan (IAP) in nine States – Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand for two years. Speaking...