Although MGNREGA has been looked upon with suspicion by the Government, industry as well as the landed farming class for various reasons including inefficiency, leakages, corruption, rise in rural wages, cost escalation etc., a new report reveals that the programme reduced poverty among its participants between 2004-05 and 2011-12 by providing employment. The report entitled Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: A Catalyst for Rural Transformation has estimated that...
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How loan sharks pull poor farmers into a debt trap -Naheed Ataulla & Anand J
-The Times of India As crops fail, banks don't deliver and the government falters, Mandya's farmers find themselves at the mercy of unscrupulous moneylenders Chenne Gowda has a Rs. 4 lakh albatross around his neck. The 55-year-old sugarcane farmer from Chikka maralli village in Pan davapura taluk, Mandya district, took the loan from private moneylenders but has no idea how he'll repay. His crop, on two acres, is wilting in the field...
More »Rural poor may get 90% more funds to build houses under new scheme -Saubhadra Chatterji
-Hindustan Times Poor people in rural India may get 90% more funds to build their houses with the government planning to revamp the rural housing scheme, Indira Awas Yojna (IAY). The scheme — likely to be redesigned as the national Grameen Awas Mission — currently offers beneficiaries Rs 70,000 to build a house and Rs 8,000 for a toilet. The Centre is planning to hike this allocation to up to Rs 1.48...
More »The digging-holes myth -Jean Dreze
-The Indian Express The view of MGNREGA as a makeshift work programme is far off the mark. Few social programmes in India are more resented by the corporate sector than the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). This is easy to understand, considering that one of the primary aims of the MGNREGA is to empower workers and reduce their dependence on private employers. Naturally, employers see this as a threat...
More »Monsoon in India: Rain deficit to hit several crops -Banikinkar Pattanayak
-The Financial Express The Narendra Modi government has pledged to employ all machinery at its disposal to deal with a second straight year of deficient monsoon. The Narendra Modi government has pledged to employ all machinery at its disposal to deal with a second straight year of deficient monsoon and denied an impending distress in the vulnerable pockets of the country, but a dispassionate look at the ground situation would show there...
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