In October last year, the ministry of labour released the results of its first large-scale survey of employment and unemployment in India. The headline number was this: 9.4 per cent of India’s labour force is unemployed. An enviable number by world standards in the middle of recession. Except, of course, that number means precisely nothing. The problem lies in figuring out exactly who counts as unemployed. Given the nature of...
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CAG wants to audit rural job scheme by Subodh Ghildiyal
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has asked the Centre to make an institutionalised audit system for job guarantee scheme with a key role for it. CAG said MGNREGA accounts should be audited in every district annually by Local Fund Audit or chartered accountants appointed by state governments, and they should be empowered to give orders on how to audit. CAG has demanded the right to audit MGNREGA accounts at the frequency...
More »Plugging the leaks in rural job plan
On the fifth birth anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) last Wednesday, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi admitted discrepancies in the biggest job guarantee scheme in the world. Gandhi, who is also National Advisory Council (NAC) chief, was referring to fake job cards, forged muster rolls and funds swindled by village heads, officials, etc. She was quick to pinpoint the course correction — a strengthened social audit....
More »Experimenting with the right to work by Sreelatha Menon
The law providing 100 days of wage employment has been heard more for its abuse than its benefits in the five years of its existence. However, we take a look at some positive examples of district authorities experimenting with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Except in the case of Sikkim, the examples show the law being implemented entirely by the district authorities rather than the local Panchayat. In...
More »Who is responsible for India's poor – the state or the private sector?
Regulation in India's microfinance sector aims to address feckless borrowing and reckless lending – but will the new restrictions entrench poverty, rather than end it? One of the many crushing burdens for India's poor bear is debt; unable to make ends meet, they turn to traditional moneylenders. They are willing to extend credit, but at unconscionably high rates – sometimes exceeding 80%, and keeping borrowers in lifelong penury. Popular cinema and...
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