A newly e-literate village paanwala's obsession with Google has blown the lid off a unique NREGS scam in Porbandar. The motley bunch of beneficiaries include affluent NRIs, doctors, government officials, teachers and well-off farmers — all shown as unemployed village labourers holding NREGS job cards. So far, the money siphoned off comes to nearly Rs 1 crore. On paper, there are 963 NREGS job cardholders at Kotda village in Kutiyana taluka...
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Govt orders inquiry into NREGA scam in Gujarat
The government today ordered an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in wage payments under NREGA in Kotda village in Gujarat's Kotiyana district. Rural Development Minister C P Joshi asked the National Level Monitor (NLM) to examine the alleged misappropriation of funds related to NREGA wage payments in Kotda village and submit a report by November 30. The direction came following media reports about an e-literate panwala in the village stumbling upon a...
More »Centre keen on cotton exports despite industry protests
Despite an outcry from the garment exporters , the government is keen on allowing excess cotton to be exported from the country before the US cotton hits the international market in January and brings prices down. The inter-ministerial committee on cotton will meet end of the month to look at fresh production figures and will take a call on whether the present export cap of 55 lakh should be lifted. “We just...
More »Child labour, still a common practice in large parts of rural India by Bidisha Fouzdar
In a small pastoral vand (hamlet) in Kutch, Gujarat, 10 year old Ramu wakes up at five in the morning. His mother serves him a hasty breakfast of bajra rotis after which he is packed off to the pasturelands surrounding their small hamlet to graze the family's buffaloes. Since his village does not have a working school, grazing the livestock is gainful employment from the point of view of Ramu's...
More »Obama Visit and Indian Agriculture: Profit Surge for American MNCs and Peril for Indian Farmers! by Vijoo Krishnan
A lot has been said and written about the visit of Barack Obama, the President of USA to India. The corporate media was in the usual over-enthusiastic drive to bring to its readers and viewers all minute details about his visit from where he stayed and what he ate to how many warships, planes and cars accompanied him and how a whopping $200 million was spent per day for the...
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