The sea change that India’s national scheme for rural employment guarantee has accomplished is hard to fathom, its vastness touching the lives or more than 100 million people. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 (NREGA, subsequently renamed after Mahatma Gandhi, or MGNREGA) was a landmark in Indian legislation. Under the act, as of April 2008, for the first time in India’s history, all rural citizens have a legal right...
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PM lands in Maharashtra village, with a 12-digit number to a future
782474317884. Ranjana Sadashiv Sonawane is unable to read the 12-digit number printed on a piece of paper given to her. But the 41-year-old resident of Tembhli village in Nandurbar district, who created history on Wednesday by becoming the first person to get an unique identity number under the UPA government’s Aadhar project, is not willing to let such minor issues mar the celebrations. “We will get many benefits. This will provide...
More »“Basic procedures not followed before project was launched”
As the Prime Minister hands out the first official AADHAAR numbers in the tribal district of Nandurbar on Wednesday, civil society activists in the capital are questioning the very basis of the ambitious Unique Identification (UID) scheme. “Even basic procedures have not been followed before launching such a massive project,” said Usha Ramanathan, an expert in law, poverty and civil rights. “The people of India, as well as Parliamentarians need to...
More »Global targets, local ingenuity
In ten years, the living conditions of the poor have been improving—but not necessarily because of the UN’s goals EVEN at 70, Jiyem, an Indonesian grandmother, gets up in the small hours to cook and collect firewood for her impoverished household. Her three-year-old grandson is malnourished. Nobody in her family has ever finished primary school. Her ramshackle house lacks electricity; the toilet is a hole in the ground; the family...
More »Gains of Green Revolution at risk: Report
Sixty-five per cent of hungry people in the world live in Asia, according to a new report on Food Security, which also warns that the gains of the Green Revolution could be at risk due to declining trends in agricultural research and rural investment.The report prepared by a group of researches led by noted agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan, who is also known as the father of India's Green Revolution,...
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