The International Energy Agency (IEA) has highlighted that over 20% of the global population or 1.4 billion people lack access to electricity, which hinders economic and social development. Here in India, the grim reality is that almost half the population in rural areas has little or no supply of power. For long years, open-ended subsidies in power have mostly been diverted and usurped by the undeserving non-poor. Fortunately, social, managerial and...

Exposed, untreated excrement can kill by the million. One of the hardest-won UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is a 2015 target of halving the proportion of those without sustainable access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. Even if achieved, the target would still leave some 500 million on the planet without this basic requirement for survival and dignity. As many as 79 per cent of rural and 46 per...

Aruna Roy , member of National Advisory Council, is in the thick of preparations for a truck yatra and dharna to mobilise people for demands relating to rights of weaker sections and systemic improvement of governance.  Bharat Dogra  spoke to her about the need for this mobilization: The general impression is that Rajasthan has a better record of governance. I agree that Rajasthan has an above-average record in the implementation of NREGS,...

State Rural Development Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh has written to B K Sinha, Secretary (Union Rural Development department) on Friday, saying that it has become difficult to provide employment under MNREGS due to paucity of funds. “There are several gram panchayats and executing agencies without any funds in UP. This is creating a situation, where it is becoming difficult to comply with the mandate to provide employment on demand in...

While there is all-round concern about how the NREGA funds are being utilised at the grass-roots level, the Union Rural Development ministry has initiated the process of inducting technology to streamline the delivery system under NREGA. This will have a revolutionary impact on programme delivery. With about 50 million people working on site in 2,50,000 panchayats all across the country, the magnitude of the task is daunting. However, once the initial...