Rapid urbanization is placing significant stress on the budgets of India's local governments and more must be done to improve their financial status to enable them to fund infrastructure projects and delivery of essential services. To address the issue, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to a request from the Government of India to support a study to assess the state of India's local government finances and identify key...

Primarily to address issues related to spending and implementation India’s apex planning body is drawing up a set of proposed reforms for the country’s flagship rural job guarantee programme, primarily to address issues related to spending and implementation. The changes proposed under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) will be sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by the end of this month for consideration, said Mihir Shah, member, Planning...

The rich countries blame India and other developing nations for the world's rising emission levels. Here is proof that the boot is on the other foot. Fresh data released by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change says greenhouse gas emissions from the rich nations increased by 12.8% between 1990-2007, the latest period for which figures are available. While the industrialized countries are now gunning for India and China to...

In the final analysis, what makes any NREGA social audit worth all the pain and effort is the awareness it creates among poor beneficiaries. It is a measure of the hard labour that awaits NREGA activists in other States that a social audit conducted under blazing arc lights, and with so much official support, such as the one in Bhilwara in Rajasthan, could run into so many roadblocks. Virtually all...

The new railway tracks announced on social demand but which are economically unviable and may get delayed due to fund crunch may be funded through NREGA. Railways, which is facing a fund crunch and is struggling to check cost escalation, has also asked state governments to pitch in at least 50% of the project cost from their kitty by raising it through a cess or any other means. According to...