Often criticised for lapses in the past, Uttar Pradesh is now credited for it's initiative to implement the Centrally-sponsored Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme successfully in the state. "I could see the increasing participation of people in it (MGNREGS) and the openness to reforms on the part of the government," said a Planning Commission member, Mihir Shah after attending a state-level discussion held here on Wednesday titled 'MGNREGS in...

There is a silver lining to the drought that hit India in 2009-10. Although it sapped the country's growth, it led to an almost doubling of physical assets created under the government's flagship rural employment scheme that year. The drought of 2009-10 was the worst that the country had faced in 17 years. As regular jobs in the farm sector dried up, more people sought work under the Mahatma Gandhi National...

A ward member in Vilappil panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram was allegedly gifted a gold bangle by the women engaged in National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in her ward. A male member in one of the adjacent wards received gifts ranging from a gold ring to footwear. All as thanksgiving for work offered to the women under NREGS. This is just one of the many shocking revelation s which were revealed in...

More than a hundred officials from various government and non government agencies observed a minute’s silence to pay tribute to slain Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGREGS) activist Niyamat Ansari at a consultation session organised by Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) to discuss the challenges facing the scheme and its future today. Deputy chief minister Hemant Soren, who was the chief guest on the occasion, faced a barrage of...

This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order...