KEY TRENDS • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...
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Real Wages Declined for Rural Indians in 2022, a Year When the Economy Somewhat Recovered
The year 2022 was supposed to mark the recovery of the Indian economy from the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns of the preceding two years. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February pushed up prices of food, fuel and fertilizer worldwide. In India consumer price inflation, which had declined to under 5 percent in the September-November period of 2021, has steadily increased, staying above 6 percent throughout 2022. What happened to rural incomes in 2022? An...
More »Government forms panel to look into MGNREGA’s efficacy -Sobhana K Nair
-The Hindu Poorer States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar haven’t been able to use the scheme optimally to alleviate poverty, while economically better-off States like Kerala use it as an asset creation tool, say officials The Central government has constituted a committee to review the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme, especially to assess the programme’s efficacy as a poverty alleviation tool. The committee, headed by former...
More »Civil society members are unhappy with the abysmal rise in notified wage rates for MGNREGA in FY 2022-23
-Joint Press Note released by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha network and People’s Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) dated March 31, 2022 The wage rates for NREGA workers for FY 2022-23 were notied on 28.03.2022. The notication of the wage rate has been extremely late, with only 3 days remaining for the beginning of the next nancial year. Such a delay prevents any discussion or debate regarding the wage rates or their adequacy....
More »CSO disappointed with low MGNREGA allocation in the Union Budget 2022-23
-Press release by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 2 February, 2022 Notwithstanding the rural distress, implementing NREGA is a legal obligation of the Central government. However, the demand-driven nature of the Act has been repeatedly stifled in letter and spirit. By severe rationing of funds, it has been made a supply driven programme. Today is NREGA diwas and while we are supposed to be celebrating the idea of rural employment guarantee, we...
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