Five years after launching the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the UPA government is now shifting the focus from mere Employment generation to creation of durable assets. With this focus, the Union Ministry of Rural Development has come out with the “MGNREGA works field manual”, which lays down “do’s and don’ts” for the states. The manual has been prepared by a team of experts headed by GN Sharma, who is consultant...

A thinking government, regional or central, would ensure sustainable wages for skilled artisans and help them market the handcrafted products, instead of letting them join the NREGS queue. The design and execution of the much-touted National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) are likely to leave a lasting impact on some areas of our economy. Surely, the prototype version did not foresee that it would act as a catalyst for changes that...

-The Hindu   “No positive response seen for enforcement of reservation ” The Union government is working on a mechanism of ‘voluntary disclosure' by the corporate and private sector on enhancement of Employment opportunities for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a conference of State Social Justice and Empowerment Ministers here on Friday that the government had taken a number of initiatives to increase ‘affirmative action' with...

After questions were raised recently on the ''leakages'' in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), another concern – non-payment of salaries to social auditors in Karnataka –might well have broad implications for the programme in the State. For the past six months, the social auditors who are responsible for supervising, guiding, rectifying errors in the programme’s implementation, and motivating people to take up more and jobs under the...

-Newsonair.com   Notwithstanding its geographically small size and tiny population, Sikkim excels in implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. About three fourth of the one lakh rural households of the state have been provided with the job cards so far under the scheme, which kicked off in the state five years ago. The Nodal Officer for implementation of MGNREGS and Special Secretary in the State's Rural Management and Development...