The pandemic's first wave had a devastating impact on the livelihoods of rural workers in Bihar (including the self-employed) last year, according to a survey based research, jointly done by economists from Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability at Monash University, Australia and the New Delhi-based Institute for Human Development. A recent press note issued by the authors of the study shows that almost 94.4 percent of the households participating...
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Jean Drèze, economist and honorary professor at the Delhi School of Economics, interviewed by Down to Earth
-Down to Earth The Government of India amended the payment procedure for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) some time ago. Due to this, MGNREGA workers in the states and Union territories faced a delay in their wage payment. This delay came at a time when the second wave of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was wreaking havoc across the country. MGNREGA was started in 2006. Economist and honorary...
More »Several studies but one conclusion -- poorly planned COVID-19 induced national lockdown hurt the poor the most
The recent Supreme Court of India’s judgments (please click here and here) related to ensuring food security of the migrant and unorganised sector workers through the provision of dry ration, running of community kitchens and proper implementation of the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme should come as no surprise to us. A recent review of some of the robust studies, which relied on multi-state surveys (or reference surveys), having...
More »Finance Ministry advised caste-wise split in MGNREGA wage payments -Priscilla Jebaraj
-The Hindu It is to assess Budget benefits for SC/STs, Rural Development Secretary says. The decision to split MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) wage payments by caste categories was done on the advice of the Finance Ministry in order to assess and highlight the benefits flowing from budgetary outlay towards Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Rural Development Secretary N.N. Sinha told The Hindu on Thursday. He said this should...
More »Civil society activists are apprehensive about the changes proposed in the MGNREGA wage payments system
-Press release by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha Secretariat dated 2nd June, 2021 In a letter dated 2nd June, 2021, written to Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister, Rural Development, NREGA Sangharsh Morcha -- a civil society group working on labour rights -- has opposed the recent move by the Ministry of Rural Development that changes the system of NREGA wage payments in such a manner that separate labour budgets and payment orders are...
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