Can we afford to leave MG-NREGA alone? Why is the civil society crying foul? Are the rural activists demanding too much? Is the UPA-II trying to take back what UPA-I gave before the elections? Let us face it, the MG-NREGA is in a big crisis. NAC members like Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze have alleged (See links below) that the present remuneration of rural workers is declining by the day and it...

Several newspapers and TV channels, some of them among India’s biggest, have claimed credit for exposing the Adarsh society scam in which the who’s who of India’s defense and political establishment are involved. The scam exposes the nexus between bureaucrats, politicians and unscrupulous defense service officers. Obviously it wouldn’t be anyone’s ‘exclusive’ if so many newspapers and channels broke the news. Or else there would be one journalist who reported...

Indians believe that war and terrorism, global warming, pollution and over-population are the biggest problems facing the world. In contrast, people living in the United States and Britain, which are facing economic slowdown, feel that economic situation is a major global challenge. The findings were revealed on Tuesday by Sir Robert Worcester, founder of Mori, while launching King’s College London’s Global Index of Fear. The survey by Ipsos-Mori in eight countries —...

Bottlenecks at every stage in the implementation of MGNREGA in Atra village in Chhattisgarh are making the villagers disillusioned. “If payment is unreliable, the poorest and the most vulnerable opt out of the system...” On a rainy day in September, Bir Singh Malekar, 45, rues his decision to stay back in Atra village in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district this summer, instead of leaving in search of work. “I usually go to Chennai between...

There are 139 candidates who have criminal charges pending against them in the 35 assembly constituencies going to poll in the fifth phase on November 9 in Bihar. This fact was found out after examining 441 affidavits of the candidates, Kumar Anjesh, state coordinator of an NGO 'National Watch,' told reporters in Patna. Of 139 such aspirants, 75 were facing serious criminal charges like murder and attempt to murder, he said. Stating that...