Members of the National Advisory Council (NAC) Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze have accused the UPA government of being “increasingly anti-labour” in their assessement of the national rural employment guarantee programme, on its fifth anniversary. With support from several activists associated with the government’s flagship social sector scheme, they have alleged that the “contractor mafia”is increasingly dominating in the states, minimising the potential to create remunerative employment through the programme. According to...

The body of Arjun K. Sengupta, a developmental economist of repute and Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal, was cremated at the Lodhi Crematorium here on Monday. He was 73. Dr. Sengupta, who died on Sunday evening at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences after a brief illness, is survived by his wife Jayshree and daughter Madhura. Born in Kolkata on June 10, 1937, Dr. Sengupta finished high school at the Mitra...

In ten years, the living conditions of the poor have been improving—but not necessarily because of the UN’s goals EVEN at 70, Jiyem, an Indonesian grandmother, gets up in the small hours to cook and collect firewood for her impoverished household. Her three-year-old grandson is malnourished. Nobody in her family has ever finished primary school. Her ramshackle house lacks electricity; the toilet is a hole in the ground; the family...

The Sonia Gandhi-led NAC, the political interface between the Congress party and the UPA government, is likely to “listen to the government’s side” before finalizing its recommendations for the legislation The prospects for legislation on food security brightened as the National Advisory Council (NAC) may consider a compromise with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) over the terms of the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA). The Sonia Gandhi-led NAC, the political interface...

After taking on Suresh Kalmadi and Co on the Commonwealth Games, Rajya Sabha MP and former panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has now trained his guns on the UPA government and the Planning Commission for bureaucratising all flagship programmes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the National Rural Health Mission. In a free-wheeling interview with ET, Mr Aiyar said instead of relying on panchayati raj institutions for better...