The much-vaunted NREGA has defaulted on many of its promises “There are many households in our village who have NREGA cards but have not sought work for over two years,” says 32-year-old Umesh Kumar, gram pradhan of Bhainswal village, in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, Kumar recounts having to actually go around persuading people to come for work “whenever we get projects for implementation under NREGA”. This first-time...

The Planning Commission today said Nandan Nilekani’s unique identification (UID) numbers were a more practical option than P. Chidambaram’s smart cards when it comes to electronic transfer of benefits to the rural poor. Plan panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the UID numbers could be used even through “mobile telephones while the smart card can only be read by a card-reader”. The commission and the home ministry have both been pushing...

-The Hindu The Union government has expressed displeasure with as many as seven Chief Ministers for their failure to commence the crucial Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) based on which Beneficiaries will be ranked for various welfare schemes including the proposed legal entitlement for food. The irony is that three of them belong to the Congress, which heads the UPA government at the Centre, while another is an ally. Of the three...

-Express News Service   Diversion of huge funds from tribal area sub-plan (TASP) provisions for implementation of projects in other areas has been opposed by the Opposition political parties. The issue was also raised several times by tribal legislators cutting across party lines in different sessions of the Assembly. The Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) has taken exception to large-scale diversion of funds from the TASP to other projects in its latest report...

The move to set aside 4.5% share for minorities, including Muslims, within an existing affirmative-action system for other backward classes (OBCs) is legally sound, Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson K Rahman Khan has said. Rahman Khan, whose “reservation” model for Muslims in Karnataka served as a model reference point for the government’s decision, however said declaring the entire community backward based on Sachar's findings alone, as demanded by many Muslims, was not...