Marie Antoinette, the liberal and concerned queen of France, on seeing the poor and hungry masses demanding bread, said in a fit of charity — “let them eat cake”. Member of the prestigious National Advisory Council (NAC) Jean Dreze surveyed the performance of the existing National Food For Work Programme (NFFWP) in July 2005 and concluded that the performance was “alarming”. The work guidelines were not being enforced, and the...

This has been a longstanding demand of the people in coastal districts Cabinet discusses the harmful effects of endosulfan Kerala was the first State to ban the insecticide The Karnataka government on Thursday banned the use of endosulfan, an insecticide, with immediate effect. This has been a longstanding demand of the people of Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi districts, and reports have it that lobby of manufacturers prevented the introduction of such a...

Results of an investigation report filed by senior government of India officials have confirmed largescale anomalies in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MG NREGS) in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh. The investigation was conducted in the first week of January, in response to a series of complaints filed by Sanjay Dixit, member, Central Employment Guarantee Council, in August, 2010, that pointed to widespread misuse of...

Tribal communities are vulnerable not only because they are poor, assetless and illiterate compared to the general population, their distinct vulnerability arises from their inability to negotiate and cope with the consequences of their forced integration with the mainstream economy, society, and cultural and political system. The repercussions for the already fragile socio-economic livelihood base of the tribals have been devastating—ranging from loss of livelihoods, land alienation on a vast...

There is no dearth of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), but Karnataka's record of utilising these funds has been poor, especially in backward districts such as Gulbarga. Of the Rs. 150 crore allocated for the district under the scheme, only Rs. 50 crore has been utilised. The fund usage is also not up to the mark in Bidar and Davangere districts, said M. Nagendra...