-The Asian Age Is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) a “living monument” of the failure of the economic policies of the Indian National Congress which has ruled the country for all but roughly 14 years since August 1947? Or is it that the MGNREGA, a law enacted a decade ago which seeks to implement the world’s biggest and most ambitious job creating scheme, one of the few...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Digging holes, filling them up -Reetika Khera
-The Indian Express As it completes 10 years, there is enough evidence to show that India needs the MGNREGA Nearly a year ago, the prime minister made a statement in Parliament about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). He said: “My political understanding tells me, don’t ever stop MNREGA… because MNREGA is a living monument to your [the Congress’s] failures. After 60 years of independence, you had to...
More »Crop insurance or deficiency payments? -Sukhpal Singh
-Livemint.com The most glaring implication of the proposed deficiency payments is that it makes the state give up its responsibility of intervening in markets During the past few months, there has been a highly contested debate on the merits, viability and feasibility of crop insurance in India given the large number of small farmers and the large amount of subsidy involved that is not being effectively used as the coverage of...
More »Machines set to foray into job scheme -Basant Kumar Mohanty
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The national rural employment scheme is set to allow use of labour-displacing machinery in all activities in a move that, social activists say, would defeat the objective of guaranteed 100 days' work to a rural household. The rural development ministry is set to amend its guidelines under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to allow use of machinery such as JCBs, rollers, mechanical mixers and...
More »Pedal for free power, PIO shows how
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Pedal a stationary cycle for one hour and run two lights and a fan all day without grid electricity. American billionaire Manoj Bhargava claims he has the answer to India's rural electrification challenge, and he showed it at an event in Delhi on Friday. Lucknow-born Bhargava, founder of 5 Hour Energy, a popular energy drink in the US, styles himself as "entrepreneur and philanthropist" on Twitter....
More »