The gruesome murder of NREGA activist Niyamat Ansari has shocked the progressive civil society and political groups in the country. According to reports (one, two), Niyamat Ansari had exposed a case of corruption in NREGA and an FIR was lodged against a former BDO and another Panchayat Sevak of Manika block, Latehar (Jharkhand). On 2nd March 2011, Niyamat Ansari was picked from his house and beaten to death. The reports...
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The UID Project and Welfare Schemes by Reetika Khera
This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order...
More »Nanny retreats? Health, education outlay more than NREG & Rural by Anubhuti Vishnoi & Ravish Tiwari
For the first time since the launch of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in the 2005-06 fiscal, the combined plan outlay for the Ministries of HRD and Health has surpassed that of the Department of Rural Development, which administers doles like the NREGS, old age pension and rural housing grants to the poor. The UPA regime has for the first time cut outlay — by about 2 per cent...
More »Dr. Mihir Shah, member, Planning Commission interviewed by Latha Venkatesh
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) completed five years this month. Pandurni village, in Nanded district in Maharashtra, is in high spirits. It has won the award for best performance in implementing the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for 2009-10. Around 1,500 people from this village are registered under this scheme, and over 800 have benefitted from it. Yahswant Suryavanshi is one of them. This owner of two hectares of agricultural land says...
More »UN calls for ‘new era of social justice’ for all with basic services and decent jobs
With 80 per cent of the world’s people lacking adequate social protection and global inequalities growing, top United Nations officials are calling for a new era of social justice that offers basic services, decently paid jobs, and safeguards for the poor, vulnerable and marginalized. “Social justice is more than an ethical imperative; it is a foundation for national stability and global prosperity,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message ahead of...
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