In the first high-level red-flag against the UPA government’s flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that while assets created under the NREGA “may or may not have productive use”, the programme was “adversely” impacting the agriculture sector by “drawing out agriculture labourers from agricultural operations”. In a letter sent to the prime minister late last month, Pawar is...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Total Matching Records found : 2417
Ministries lock horns over rural job plan by Prasad Nichenametla
Two ministries concerned with rural development are at loggerheads over running of the government's flagship scheme- the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The agriculture ministry is protesting the way the Rs 40, 000 crore programme is being executed, saying it has increased the burden on agriculture, which is showing just about two percent growth now. "State-level studies by the Agro Economic Research Centres on wage rate, food security...
More »India's income inequality has doubled in 20 years
-The Times of India Inequality in earnings has doubled in India over the last two decades, making it the worst performer on this count of all emerging economies. The top 10% of wage earners now make 12 times more than the bottom 10%, up from a ratio of six in the 1990s. Moreover, Wages are not smoothly spread out even through the middle of the distribution. The top 10% of earners make...
More »NREGA's new avatar: Work later, take home cash now by Devika Banerji
The government is likely to allow advance part payment of Wages in a bid to restore faith of beneficiaries in its flagship rural jobs scheme. The proposal is part of a slew of measures to address mounting criticism of the centrally-funded Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) which is beset by administrative logjam and charges of leakages. The rural development ministry has asked states to initiate a monthlong pilot...
More »Poor social security, a major concern for workers in Asia-Pacific region by Meena Menon
While Asian economies boomed before the global recession in 2008, the fruits of that progress did not translate into better Wages or secure employment conditions for workers in the region. The International Labour Organisation (ILO)'s Asian Decent Work Decade launched in 2006 was aimed at five priority areas of competitiveness, productivity and jobs; labour market governance; youth employment, managing labour migration and local development for poverty reduction. Today workers' unions are...
More »
