-The Hindu "Rs. 40,000-crore component is for the whole country" The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is not going to restrict the implementation of MGNREGA to a few pocket of the country, the new Minister for Rural Development Chaudhary Birendra Singh, said on Tuesday. Mr. Singh was responding to questions over whether the government was planning to restrict the scheme's implementation to only tribal and poor areas - 2500 blocks of all States -...

-The Economic Times For one who had worked so closely to frame the world's largest job guarantee programme, known as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, it's not easy to see it succumb to pressure. It's no wonder that economist-cum-activist Jean Dreze will raise his voice against this, along with eminent academics such as Pranab Bardhan and Maitreesh Ghatak. Dreze says corruption related to NREGA and leakages - its...

-Business Standard Between April and September 2014, the central govt released Rs 13,618 cr to states, against Rs 24,676 cr in the same period last year Kolkata: The Union government has severely cut the funds for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, one of the largest job-creation programmes in the world, even as it deliberates on framing new norms for it. Compared to last financial year, there has been nearly a 45...

-The Times of India Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya, hereafter BP, have argued for phasing out the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in favour of cash transfers ("Rural Inefficiency Act", ToI, 23 October). It's surprising-and amusing-that two eminent economists have chosen to make a case based on prior beliefs and some sophomoric wordplay ('mis'leading economists), rather than on the available evidence. A survey by one of us of the empirical literature...

-The Hindu Reports that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government intends to radically restructure the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) have re-ignited public discussion on the scheme. Since its launch, debate on MGNREGA has been synonymous with ideological contestations on the role of the state and its welfare functions. Inevitably, the contours of the debate have been shrill, leaving little space for an evidence-based discussion on the...