The Wire “When the internet is shut down, I have no work, do not get paid, cannot withdraw any money from my account and cannot even get food rations.” This statement by a Dalit woman daily wage worker from Rajasthan begins a joint report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) scrutinising India’s record as the world’s internet shutdown capital. In No Internet Means No Work, No Pay,...
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Flawed MGNREGS Attendance App Impacts Workers’ Pay In World’s Largest Rural Jobs Programme - Shreehari Paliath, Anand Dutta
IndiaSpend On a sweltering April afternoon, Hari Oraon, 51, was sitting outside his home in Latehar’s Ahirpur village of Mahuadanr block, nearly 200 km northwest of Ranchi. He was worried. Owing to pending wages--he had not been paid for seven days--Hari Oraon had not gone to work for the last two days. “I do not know why this happened, and I am not sure if I will receive it,” said Hari, a...
More »Mandatory digital attendance for MGNREGA will destroy scheme -Himanshu Nitnaware
-Down to Earth The central government has mandated digitally capturing the attendance of all workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGnregs). Labourers and activist groups have opposed this and pointed out several loopholes in the move. The National Mobile Monitoring System, which came into effect on January 1, 2023, was launched with claims of bringing transparency and eliminating corruption at the ground level. Pilot tests began in May 2021 at...
More »Centre has withheld Rs 7,500 crore in MGNREGA funds to West Bengal for a year, claims report -Shagun
-Down to Earth MGNREGA workers in Bengal not paid wages of Rs 2744 crore for a year, report by Libtech India found The central government has withheld release of Rs 7,500 crore in MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) funds to West Bengal for a year now over “non-compliance of central government directives”, a report released on December 26, 2022 claimed. A whopping Rs 2,744 crore of the Rs 7,500...
More »Adivasis at bottom rung of India’s development pyramid, finds Tribal Development Report 2022 -Shuchita Jha
-Down to Earth India’s tribal communities have been pushed away from alluvial plains and fertile river basins, into the harshest ecological regions, the report notes India’s tribal communities form 8.6 per cent of the country’s population according to the 2011 Census. But they are at the bottom of the country’s development pyramid even after 75 years of independence, according to a new report released November 28, 2022. The Tribal Development Report 2022,...
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