-Business Standard Back-to-back droughts and record-low farm commodity prices have forced the NDA government to look at MGNREGS in a new light.Things have started to look up for the scheme About a year back, Raqibul Hussain, Assam's rural development minister, was unhappy because he could not stop the Central government from lowering the state's annual entitlement under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for 2014-15. This, he said in a day-long...
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‘India budget weak in public participation; limited in transparency’ -Karnika Bahuguna
-Down to Earth The country’s performance in terms of public participation and budget oversight by the legislature was rated “weak” in the survey As Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gears up to present the Union Budget 2016-17 (April-March), it is worth noting that an international survey of budgets of over a 100 countries points out that India provides “limited” budget information in the public domain. The Open Budget Survey 2015, released by the...
More »Chaudhary Birendra Singh, Union minister for rural development, speaks to Lola Nayar
-Outlook Union minister for rural development Chaudhary Birendra Singh on the NREGA Union minister for rural development Chaudhary Birendra Singh has been facing considerable flak from activists who have been alleging that the ministry is holding back funds needed to give greater push to the NREGA. Excerpts from an interview with Lola Nayar: * There have been mixed reports from states about the performance of NREGA. In some states, NREGA is going very...
More »Most Std X students below par in English, maths: NCERT -Akshaya Mukul
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The first ever survey of learning achievement of class X students has shown that majority of the states/Union Territories are performing below the overall average score in all subjects. The survey by NCERT was done with a sample of 2.77 lakh students in 7,216 schools across 33 states/UTs. NCERT is also putting in place a system whereby feedback from surveys will be given to states, examination...
More »States have failed to tap full potential of school midday meal scheme and maximize welfare -Pyaralal Raghavan
-The Times of India A recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG ) report on the midday meal scheme highlights the major achievements and short falls in its implementation. Dubbed as the largest such scheme attempted anywhere in the world the midday meal scheme stands out for its inclusive approach, being available to each and every child up to the secondary school level, and its direct impact on improving nutrition levels and...
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