Legal experts have called for repealing of anti-beggary laws and demanded effective implementation of welfare and social security laws for enhancing sources of livelihood for the beggars. Usha Ramanathan, law researcher, Poverty and Rights, New Delhi, and B.B. Pande, former professor of Law, University of Delhi, said prevention and prohibition of beggary laws enacted in several States have infringed upon individual liberties and have provided powers to State authorities to round...

OVER 2.5 crore job card holders registered under Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA) could be affected by the rural development ministry’s decision to introduce biometrics to the scheme. The job cards of beneficiaries in 200 districts across India are set to expire in 2011. The process of job card renewal under the biometric system would take six months to two years. This would deny the registered people 100 days...

A Maharashtra district judge is employed under a key central government job scheme meant for the poorest of the poor in Jukkal Mandal of Nizamabad district in Andhra Pradesh. Judge Vijayrao Patel's employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) reflects the rampant corruption in the widely-publicized national job guarantee programme for the village poor. Patel, a Sholapur district judge, has an MNREGS job card (ID no 09011011038) issued...

Recently an interesting article appeared in The New York Times on how after the completion of a social audit at Nagarkurnool in Andhra Pradesh, villagers punished a local official for swindling funds allocated to the central government's flagship project, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme. The irate villagers tied the official's hands and paraded him around the neighbouring villages. This is not a one-off incident; similar accounts have...

The Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the Orissa Secretariat on Thursday has reviewed the progress of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREG )through Video Conference.The Chief Minister has directed the Collectors to emphasise on the Horticulture and development of the beneficiaries of the Forest Right . The Chief Minister also stressed to speed up  Mo Pokhari Scheme. The Chief Minister instructed the Collectors for sitting of the...