-The Hindu The Centre on Tuesday unveiled the expanded version of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, allowing over 30 new permissible works, as productivity-enhancing activity. The gram panchayats alone have been empowered to decide on the priority of work to be taken up. Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, who tabled in Parliament a copy of the new notification, and Planning Commission member Mihir Shah told reporters that...

Online cards issued under the government's flagship rural jobs scheme will now include the beneficiary's 12-digit 'Aadhar' number issued under the Centre's multi-crore unique ID project that has drawn more brickbats than bouquets.  Over the next three months, state governments will update the registration data, including Aadhar numbers, of beneficiaries under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in an exercise to weed out ghost cards.  "This will help us assess...

-Greater Kashmir Jammu, Apr 25: The wage rate under MGNREGA would be increased from present Rs 131/day to Rs 150 to speed up its implementation at the ground level. The information, according to an official statement, was given in the 4th State Employment Grantee Council meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Law Justice and Parliament Affairs, Ali Muhammad Sagar. Sagar while impressing upon the officers...

-The Economic Times The rural development ministry has deepened its engagement with the Comptroller and Auditor-General. After the performance audit of NREGA, CAG will take up an audit of the Indira Awas Yojna. The audit of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme which has an annual budget of 40,000 crore covers the period between 2007 and 2011. Rural development minister Jairam Rameshwill submit the report this winter session. "Every year, CAG...

The ICDS' plight is symptomatic of the problems plaguing the Union government's flagship schemes for the poor all over the country.   INDIA may be the only country in the world where we describe the ensuring of the basic socio-economic rights of the people in terms of “flagship schemes” that are seen as the benevolent contribution of governments. One problem with this approach is that the delivery of basic services is...