An investigation by the Union Ministry of Rural Development based on a report by The Indian Express has confirmed that the Gujarat government has been illegally diverting MNREGA funds for its own departmental works. Ironically, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had himself stated in New Delhi on Saturday that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme had become a ‘den of corruption’ and that he had asked the...

Five years after the passage of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, now known as the MNREGA after Mahatma Gandhi, activists central to lobbying for it are seeing serious flaws in its implementation. Absence of a mechanism to deal with the flaws, they say, are defeating the purpose of the Act. Aruna Roy, activist and member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, in both its avatars, told The Indian Express...

Tripura has continued to remain on top in implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) while Sikkim came a close second in the 2009-10 fiscal. State Rural Development Minister Jitendra Choudhury told UNI over phone from Delhi today that the State achieved on an average 82 days out of promised 100 days of waged employment to the people residing in the rural areas. Choudhury said the performance evaluation...

The question of whether it is possible to move — and how swiftly — towards universalising food entitlements under the proposed National Food Security Act, dominated the second meeting of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) here on Thursday, NAC sources told TheHindu. Universalising food entitlements will hinge on availability of food grains, and on whether the exchequer is in a position to bear additional cost of food subsidy...

One of the first issues the reconstituted National Advisory Council (NAC) will have to deal with is the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA). Given the inability of the government to control food prices that remain unacceptably high and the scant regard the ruling United Progressive Alliance has shown for food security, it should be taken up on an urgent basis if the government is to preserve its credibility among...