The concepts of multiplier and accelerator borrowed from macroeconomic theory illuminate the enormous potential of NREGA and help set standards that it must be judged by.  Over the last few months, just as the economy entered its current recessionary phase, the mainstream media, which till then had been uniformly unswerving in their antipathy to NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), suddenly began to sing its praises. In all the gloom...

KEY TRENDS    • The proportion of households which completed 100 days of wage employment under MGNREGA in total households that worked was 6.02 percent in 2014-15, 10.07 percent in 2015-16, 7.79 percent in 2016-17 and 5.78 percent in 2017-18 @$ • Completed works as a proportion of total works was 30.15 percent in 2014-15, 29.39 percent in 2015-16, 40.27 percent in 2016-17, 32.01 percent in 2017-18 and 3.3 percent in 2018-19 (as on 7th May, 2018) @$   • In...

-TheWire.in A Centre for Policy Research ground report points to a mass hunger crisis among migrant workers in Delhi post-COVID-19 lockdown. It highlights the current disconnect between the government’s well-meaning responses to the crisis of hunger and health among the most vulnerable populations. The much-awaited relief package for the poor announced by the Union finance minister on March 26 in the wake of the COVID-19 related lockdown in the country has entirely...