-The Hindu Literacy has helped people in the State maximise the benefits of the rural employment guarantee scheme Kerala’s achievements have long been celebrated by development economists — high literacy rates, including among girls, low infant mortality rates and so on. There has also been a spate of writings highlighting the ills of Kerala society. Critics have pointed to the high rates of suicides and feminists have also raised difficult questions. While...

-The Indian Express From Nariman Point to Tirupur, from broking firms to ancillary industries — as a two-part series in this newspaper has illustrated — the economy is seeing a steady contraction in employment opportunities. The economic and social cost is sobering but the UPA should also worry about the political implications. Lakhs of jobs are being lost when India is heading for a general election that could be decided primarily...

-Live Mint After years of denial about problems in its flagship social welfare programme, the MGNREGS, the government has awoken to the need for an honest debate on the subject After years of denial about problems in its flagship social welfare programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS), the government has awoken to the need for an honest debate on the subject. On Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made some...

-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 Economic Times The positive impact on agricultural wages and distress migration from rural areas not withstanding, the government's flagship rural employment scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, leaves a lot to be desired for. This is evident from the rural development ministry's compendium of more than 100 major research papers on the programme, MGNREGA Sameeksha. The slim 120-odd page volume, which is to be released by the Prime Minister...