Five years after the passage of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, now known as the MNREGA after Mahatma Gandhi, activists central to lobbying for it are seeing serious flaws in its implementation. Absence of a mechanism to deal with the flaws, they say, are defeating the purpose of the Act. Aruna Roy, activist and member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, in both its avatars, told The Indian Express...
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NAC for food security in one-fourth of districts, for now by Smita Gupta
The National Advisory Council (NAC) met the Food Ministry halfway on Wednesday, when it recommended extension of universal food entitlements to one-fourth of either the poorest districts or the poorest blocks in the country. This decision emerged after some NAC members pointed out that universalisation of food security would not be possible, given the current state of agricultural productivity and the level of grain procurement. However, they agreed that the implementation...
More »UPA gearing up to roll out NREGA-II by Devesh Kumar
Seeking to build on the strengths of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) while, at the same time, eliminating its main deficiencies and shortcomings, the rural development ministry is planning to take UPA government’s flagship project to a new level. A three-day-long workshop of the coordination group attached to the ministry, as also other principal stakeholders, gets underway at the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Rural Development from...
More »Fresh hopes over food security
The June 1 announcement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while releasing the Report Card for the first year of the second term of the United Progressive Alliance Government, that the Food Security Bill was under preparation and that the Bill would be placed in the public domain for scrutiny and wider consultation has raised hopes about early enactment of the law to ensure the people's right to food as part...
More »Govt may offer cash to poor who fail to get food by Liz Mathew
A new draft of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) suggests offering cash compensation to poor people who are unable to receive their quota of subsidized foodgrains. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government will discuss the draft with state food secretaries in a meeting on 14-15 June. “The Central government shall set up, by notification, a central food security fund for payment of compensation to state governments in the event...
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