Although MGNREGA has been looked upon with suspicion by the Government, industry as well as the landed farming class for various reasons including inefficiency, leakages, corruption, rise in rural wages, cost escalation etc., a new report reveals that the programme reduced poverty among its participants between 2004-05 and 2011-12 by providing employment. The report entitled Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: A Catalyst for Rural Transformation has estimated that...

-Economic and Political Weekly A survey to identify who the poor are and how many are actually poor is necessary if programmes and benefits targeted at the needy are to reach them. The Socio Economic Caste Census, of which partial results have been published, was intended to do this. Yet, even a cursory look at the figures indicates that they call for a willing suspension of disbelief. N C Saxena (naresh.saxena@gmail.com) was...

The nation can be proud of running some of the world's largest programmes on social safety nets, says the latest report by World Bank. However, public spending on safety nets is still low in comparison to neighbouring countries Bangladesh and Pakistan. India tops the list of 136 countries for running the world's largest school feeding programme i.e. the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS), and also the biggest public works programme i.e....

-Scroll.in Thanks to the law, workers have built roads where there were none, replaced scrublands with forests, levelled lands and made them cultivable. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act envisages that the works undertaken under it will strengthen natural resource management and address causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation and soil erosion, thereby encouraging sustainable development. However, the fact that it is not simply a work creation programme but...

-Down to Earth As per government documents, the current year’s progress report on MGNREGA shows that around 33,000 structures have been completed and work on around 1.1 million structures is still on After the Centre’s ambitious target of constructing one toilet per second to spruce up rural development failed, it has come up with another 'impractical' target. Now, the NDA government plans to construct 42 water harvesting structures every hour under the...