India has long been simultaneously a country of enormous wealth and desperate poverty. In recent decades, the distance has only grown between those who enjoy living standards comparable to the finest in the world, and the millions left far behind. Even as Indians crowd the lists of the world’s richest dollar billionaires, an estimated 200 million people sleep hungry. Half our children are malnourished and nearly a fifth severely so....

Most discussions on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) have focused on one of few things, the leakages in the implementation of the scheme, the inadequate number of jobs created, and some even talk of how NREGA has resulted in food inflation going up in various districts as well as increasing mechanisation due to unavailability of farm labour. It is, of course, true that you can’t have food inflation...

In the fight against poverty, India seems to be winning - in some parts of the country at least. Vimla Sharma lives in Suwana Village in Rajasthan. Her life has been dramatically improved by a government scheme called the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Launched in 2005, it guarantees every rural family 100 days of work a year at a wage of 100 rupees a day. She can now send...

All speakers addressing the main session of the World Water Week in Sweden during 5-11 September were presented with a beautifully wrapped bottle of tap water! Yes, you heard right: tap water from Stockholm. It is a symbol of achievement that the Swedes love to flaunt—and rightly so. It is also the best gift the Indian government can give to all Indians in general, and particularly those 500-odd million that live...

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has ushered in a revolution of sorts in rural India by providing employment to people in the country’s dusty villages. Now, the state has taken a lead in ensuring that many more citizens can benefit from the Act. Maharashtra is probably the first state to appoint Ombudsmen and deputy Ombudsmen in most of its districts for effective monitoring of the centrally-sponsored...