Senior Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh, who took charge today as the Union rural development minister, said he would look into the controversy over delinking the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the government’s largest rural employment programme, from the Minimum Wages Act. “I have to go into the matter, as I am not aware of the ministry’s position and the court rulings in the matter so far,” he said. Yesterday, former Supreme...

For Union minister C P Joshi the failure to handle the UPA goverment's flagship programme of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) resulted in his transition from rural development to surface transport. Joshi had not acted on a letter from Congress president Sonia Gandhi to raise MGNREGA wages and also stood in contempt of an Andhra Pradesh High Court order. Joshi was earlier seen as a trusted man...

A fortnight after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said wages paid under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) would not be linked with minimum wages, Minister of State for Labour Harish Rawat today said NREGA was a flawed law, as it went against the Minimum Wages Act. Rawat told Business Standard the section in the law which contained a contradiction with the minimum wages Act made it a flawed piece of...

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a landmark legislation to improve the economic condition of rural mass of India through an assured 100 days of employment per household per year, was initially implemented in West Garo Hill and South Garo Hills districts of Meghalaya in 2006, with much publicity. The scheme emanating from the MGNREGA for providing unskilled manual work for 100 days per household at Rs...

Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has decided to enhance the daily wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Nrega) to Rs 121 from the existing Rs 100. The job card holders who have completed the existing maximum limit of 100 days of employment under Nrega A will also now be employed for an additional 25 days. A decision to this effect was taken by Reddy at a review meeting. Crop...