-The Indian Express National Advisory Council (NAC) member Aruna Roy has sought UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s intervention in implementing the Karnataka High Court ruling — that the wages under the NREGS cannot be less than the minimum wages prevailing in the area — across the country. Roy has termed the delinking of the wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme from the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act as a “more...
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Record of MNREGA implementation is very patchy: Jairam Ramesh
-India Today Terming the implementation of UPA's flagship programme MNREGA as "patchy", Rural Development MinisterJairam Rameshon Monday expressed concern at leakage of funds meant for the scheme but hoped that the proposed 'NREGA 2.0' will deal with the problems in the coming times. "There are serious, serious shortcomings in its implementation...The record of its implementation is very patchy...and therefore, we have a huge challenge," Ramesh said at a programme here. He said while...
More »When the RTI ‘Basmasura' chased the government by Vidya Subrahmaniam
When the controversial Finance Ministry note to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on P. Chidambaram's role in 2G spectrum allocation was traced to a Right to Information application, there was surprise — and some concern — both within the government and in RTI circles. The government's discomfiture was understandable: The RTI Act, which was its proud creation, recoiled on it much like the boon that Lord Shiva granted Basmasura. In the...
More »Need to review parliamentary privilege: Aruna Roy
-The Hindu Civil rights activist Aruna Roy on Sunday termed the notion of parliamentary privilege ‘fundamentally flawed' and said it needed a relook. “The privilege issue, we [the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI)] feel, is fundamentally flawed. We will have to examine it. Not only now, we have raised this over a number of issues [earlier],” she said at an interaction with the media. On Parliament's breach of privilege motion...
More »Hazare vs Hazare: A Scenario as a Warning by Shiv Visvanathan
As the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement moves to the legislative phase it has to rid itself of the panacea model. The Hazare group has to realise that it has no monopoly on diagnosis or the cure for corruption. The Lokpal is no magic bullet which will solve the problem of corruption. Corruption needs a more cautious and nuanced problematic and a wider set of solutions. To put it facetiously, Hazare’s...
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