Dr U Jaikumaran is breathless with excitement over the phone. “The next five days will be hectic and crucial in our war against hunger. We have to transplant rice on 300 acres in just five days.” Dr Jaikumaran, a professor at the Kerala Agriculture University (KAU), has been building a Food Security Army (FSA) – men and women in green uniforms organised into nine regiments and 24 battalions – who are...

When Gadchiroli Collector Atul Patne and his predecessor Niranjankumar Sudhanshu accept a special medal from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow in New Delhi for their NREGA performance, they will rebut a widely held belief that good government work can't be done in Naxal-affected areas, a belief that's often used as an alibi for inaction. Gadchiroli, which became the biggest hotspot in the Red Corridor in 2009 with three police ambushes...

Jean Dreze and Aruna Roy, members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) — governing body for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme — on Tuesday kept away from ‘MNREGS Sammelan 2010’ here, describing it as a “ceremonial function.” In their joint letter to Rural Development Minister C.P. Joshi, the social activists, who had played a crucial role in shaping the manual job guaranteeing law, said, “We see little...

A survey of the Supreme Court’s docket finds a court overwhelmed by petitions from those with money and resources.  THE Indian Supreme Court has a reputation for being a “people’s court” or, as one judge put it, a “last resort for the oppressed and bewildered”. The Constitution gives all Indians the right to petition directly the Supreme Court if their fundamental rights are violated and the right to appeal to...

The United Progressive Alliance’s flagship scheme, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), could have saved the day for India when the world fought against rising job losses on account of century’s worst ever recession , says a report by the International Labour Organisation. “There has been much progress in extending social protection through NREGA, which helped in maintaining levels of consumption and poverty,” the report on Global Employment Trends 2010...