-The Hindu A quarter of a century ago, the then Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Manmohan Singh, started a programme of concurrent – or real-time – evaluation of the government’s rural development schemes. On Saturday, the Prime Minister expressed surprise that such processes are “languishing” and “not in good shape” and asked the present Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, to “apply his mind to making good this deficiency.” The Prime Minister was...

-The Telegraph Beggars can’t be choosers — not even when it comes to quitting. The Centre plans to photograph and collect the fingerprints of the country’s estimated 7.3 lakh beggars for a proposed national database to launch a scheme aimed at ending the practice and offering sources of livelihood. The Union ministry of social justice is overseeing the project and has asked states to furnish details on beggars for the database. “A rehabilitation package...

-The Times of India In a rare move, government on Saturday released a compendium of independent studies on job guarantee scheme — both appreciative and critical of the programme — prompting Prime Minister Manmohan Singhto ask the rural development ministry to fix the issue of delayed payment for workers and minister Jairam Ramesh flagging corruption as a problem.  Top policymakers of UPA gathered at the PM's residence for the release of "MGNREGA...

-The Telegraph The Prime Minister today expressed surprise that “concurrent evaluation” of the rural job scheme was “not in good shape” and asked Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to “apply his mind to making good this deficiency”. Concurrent evaluation is an assessment of a scheme’s impact, strength and weaknesses while it is being implemented, as distinct from the annual CAG audit or a post-mortem. Its objective is to identify problems...

-PTI Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the issue of delayed payment to workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) should be addressed at the earliest, and sought concurrent audit of rural development schemes. ”I am surprised to hear from (Rural Development Minister) Jairam Ramesh that concurrent evaluation processes are not in good shape. When I was in the Planning Commission long ago, I think we have started the...