Funds allocated for the United Progressive Alliance government’s flagship rural welfare scheme, although the highest for any single social welfare programme, are enough to meet only about half its objective, says a report by a legislative panel. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) guarantees at least 100 days of work a year for one member of every poor rural household. The parliamentary standing committee on rural development, which assessed...
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India booms but poor still hungry, malnourished
The government is spending billions of dollars on welfare schemes, and plans even more this year. But that is news to Poona, whose daughter may soon die from that stain on India's growth story -- malnutrition. Poona, who married at 14 and breaks quarry stones for a living, shielded her daughter's sunken face from a harsh summer sun with her blue sari. She does not know Urmila's weight, but the...
More »India to brief G-20 on its successful rural scheme by Lalit K Jha
Union Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge would present a briefing on the country''s highly successful National Rural Employment Generation Scheme at the first ever meet of G-20 labour ministers here today. Top officials from the US Department of Labour, organisers of the event, said the innovative 100-day rural employment guarantee scheme has been successful beyond the expectations of almost every one. "India has learnt and has refined the strategy. So there is...
More »Microfinance institutions encourage toilet construction with loans at low interest rates by Anupama Chandrasekaran
For nearly three decades, Selvi V. has lived in a village in the Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu, 75km from Chennai, without a toilet. And there really wasn’t any need felt to have one in this family of daily wage farm labourers. Selvi and her now-married daughter would wake up either early every morning or wait until dark to relieve themselves in a thicket of thorny shrubs a little distance...
More »Sonia effect? Plan panel raises BPL bar by Nitin Sethi & Mahendra Kumar Singh
The uncertainty over the number of people to benefit from the proposed food security law has abated. With Sonia Gandhi in her new role as National Advisory Council chairperson keeping a vigil, the Planning Commission on Saturday dropped its reluctance to accept Tendulkar committee's report putting the size of the below poverty line (BPL) population at 37.2%. The Planning Commission had so far been keen on going with its own...
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