-Hindustan Times These women have come together to force the administration to give them designated work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The scorching heat and glaring sun don’t seem to deter the spirit of villagers clearing weed and silt from a dry lake in Bevanahalli, Mandya district. Sowbhagya, one of the labourers, from the 75-member group is worried about completing the task assigned on time. “The authorities gave us...
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Baseless Aadhaar and its many flaws: When the poor lose their thumb prints -Osama Manzar & Eshita Mukherjee
-Business Standard When machines don't recognise their thumb prints, Aadhaar turns into a device of exclusion Wardi Devi, a senior citizen, hails from a remote town of Rajasthan. She’s tried to enrol for the Aadhaar thrice and even paid Rs. 150 and Rs. 50 to agents while making the first two attempts. Tired of coughing out her hard earned money from her meagre wages, she refused to pay anything the third time....
More »A mango plantation in Jharkhand shows how MGNREGA can really empower rural families -Inayat Sabhikhi
-Scroll.in Instead of wages for a short period of time, the family running the project in Lanka village will create an asset for life. Mahavir Parhaiya’s household in the remote village of Lanka in Latehar district of Jharkhand is bustling with activity. They are busy working on setting up a mango plantation on what was once a barren plot near their house, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act...
More »Dissent and Aadhaar -Jean Dreze
-The Indian Express We have been numbed by a series of lies, myths and fictions about the project. India is at risk of becoming a surveillance state, with faint resistance from libertarians, intellectuals, political parties, the media, or the Supreme Court. Very soon, almost everyone will have an Aadhaar number, seeded in hundreds of databases. Most of these databases will be accessible to the government without invoking any special powers. Permanent surveillance...
More »Govt pares MNREGA compensation for delay in payment of wages -Nitin Sethi & Sahil Makkar
-Business Standard The govt has in place regulations that systematically calculate less than the payable compensation New Delhi: The Union government has been understating the compensation that workers should get under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for the delay in payment of wages. Not just that, only a portion of this understated compensation is being paid to the beneficiaries across the country. According to the job guarantee scheme,...
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