When noted economist Jean Dreze visited Surguja in Chhattisgarh a decade ago, its utterly non-functional Public Distribution System (PDS) looked like especially “designed to fail.” The National Advisory Committee member has written in a recent article that the ration shop owners illegally sold the grain meant for the poor and “hunger haunted the land.” But that was then. The economist was pleasantly shocked to see the transformation this time. “Ten years...

This will speed up payment of wages under employment guarantee scheme In a major step to alleviate delays in wage payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday launched an “e-Shakti Financial Inclusion” scheme – the first of its kind in the country. The scheme aims at providing about three crore villagers with ‘e-Shakti' biometric smart cards, with the Central Bank of...

On Thursday in the presence of chief minister Nitish Kumar, worker Shyam Narayan Chauhan from Patna district put his finger print on a handset which matched with the biometric mark stored in his E-Shakti Smart Card that he possessed and flaunted as his new pride. Since the card is linked with Financial Inclusion of the card holder, he also drew Rs 300 from the total sum of Rs 397 in...

The working group on wages, constituted under the auspices of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) that governs the functioning of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), in a report, has expressed concern over what it described as a crisis of the wage policy. The report, which will be taken up for consideration at a CEGC meeting on Friday, points to the depreciating wages of the MGNREGA workers,...

The Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, JeeVika, a state-led women’s self-help group, is active since 2007. Based on primary research, this article highlights the potential role of the individual rural woman – the didi – in driving the social and economic shifts necessary for sustainable poverty reduction in rural Bihar. The term didi is used to address an elder sister. It embodies the notion of respect. Traditionally, the term has remained...