It is true that, at 119 crore person-days, the employment created this year by the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), the government's flagship programme, is tiny, a fraction of one percentage point of the total employment in the country.
'We are working with a few housing finance companies to drive affordable lending because that's where we believe our sweet spot is.'
The successful implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in parts of West Bengal has meant that fewer hands are available today to craft mud and straw into the idols that are central to goddess Durga's homecoming every autumn.
Nearly 40 per cent of IITians sitting for placements in 2024 are yet to receive job offers, showing a doubling of the 'unplaced' in the last three years from 19 per cent in 2021-2022 to 38 per cent in 2023-2024.
To make the implementation of its flagship programme for rural job guarantee more transparent, the Union government plans to constitute a group of eminent persons for its independent evaluation and monitoring.
"We have decided to identify 100 eminent citizens to report independently further on the progress of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The process is underway," Union minister for rural development C P Joshi told PTI.
The districts have provided 64 days of jobs under the 100-day job scheme as against the state average of 45 days.
President A P J Abdul Kalam on Monday suggested widening the ambit of Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (REGS), which primarily caters to manual labour, to include knowledge-based employment.
While the cause itself is undoubtedly worthy of attention, the method employed raises concerns about the dangers of misinformation and the responsibility of news outlets in our information age.
'The BJP has started a war-like situation against farmers and the Jat community.'
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee along with party leaders and workers sat on a dharna at the Rajghat in New Delhi on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary on Monday demanding the release of funds for West Bengal by the Centre.
Under the plan being worked out, the labour component of the railway projects, which include the expansion of train lines or conversion of line gauge, would be funded from NREGS, as most of these projects require a large labour force and generate employment opportunities in rural areas.
'Oh god, these workers will now spread the virus! Their only concern was to think about themselves.' 'The middle class was only concerned with flattening the curve of coronavirus and they were not bothered about how these workers live in one room with 10 people or 20 people.'
The party released its manifesto -- Samajwadi Vachan Patra -- for the coming assembly elections, shortly after the BJP released its own.
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.
"The government is planning such a scheme (for urban poor)," minister of state for planning V Narayanasamy told reporters after assuming charge of his ministry in New Delhi on Wednesday. Under the NREGA scheme, which was launched in February 2006, the government provides 100 days of assured employment in a year to at least one person in a rural household.
Targeting Modi over inflation, Priyanka called him a "mehengai" man.
Purulia district in West Bengal, where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said, people are worse off than those in Orissa's poorest Kalahandi area, has since turned the corner.
'If the total amount is spent, it will be highest Budget spend on MGNREGA.'
The Bihar government has sacked 110 officials of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme from service for corruption.
In an advisory to the states, ministry of rural development has also asked them to take effective measures to ensure that rural households receive their 'due entitlement' under the Act in the districts facing drought.
Jean Dreze, who is also member of the Central Employment Guarantee Council, Ritika Khera and Anirban Kar - all from the Delhi School of Economics -- have pointed out that though bank payment of wages is seen as a magic solution to delayed payment and non-payment of wages under the Rs 25,000-crore (Rs 250-billion) scheme, making bank payments mandatory is a step taken without necessary precautions.
Since 1993, when the BJP came to power after a stint of President's rule, the state has alternated between the Congress and the BJP.
It is crucial to electoral democracy that the exercise of freedom to vote is not subject to undue influence, the Supreme Court said on Thursday while striking down as unconstitutional the electoral bonds scheme for political funding.
Sources claimed that Singhal was "evasive" in her replies and hence was arrested.
RBI Governor has dismissed the notion that the rural employment guarantee programme is behind the massive spurt in wages in rural areas.
'MGNREGA Sameeksha' is an anthology of all major research studies on performance of the programme that were published in academic journals or the stand-alone reports, but excluding the newspaper and magazine articles and opinion pieces, says Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh in his forward to the volume.
More people opting for work under the scheme would aggravate the shortage of workers in farms.
The SR Abhiyan meeting held in Jaipur, Rajasthan to mark the completion of seven years of MGNREGA decided that both pensions and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act would be made electoral issues and political parties would be asked to take a stand before canvassing during the upcoming state and national elections.
About 4.5 crore (45 million) households across the country benefited from the pioneering National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the financial year 2008-09, an increase of 32 per cent over the previous year, says the Economic survey.
Rejecting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's charge that his demand for Central Bureau of Investigation probe into Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act implementation was "politically motivated", Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday said he would not hesitate to recommend similar investigation even in Congress-ruled states.
NREGS has no place in the scheme of things that Kejriwal prescribes for the nation in his book Swaraj.
CEOs point fingers at rural job guarantee and related govt welfare schemes; say mechanisation an increasingly viable option.
The bench said the petitioner must know that the high court has already passed certain directions on the issue.
'This is what happens to a party when it gets trapped in the vicious circle of nepotism and dynastic politics'
Under attack from opposition parties and activists, the Bihar government has ordered the Crime Branch to probe the murder of RTI activist Ram Kumar Thakur, a police official said.
Bihar government has decided to use high-tech GPS enabled Android phones to monitor progress of the rural jobs scheme and keep a watch on the officials involved in the implementation of the scheme.
The provision for additional Rs 10,500 crore (Rs 105 billion) was made in the first batch of supplementary demands for grant, which was approved by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The amount has been provided, "to meet the additional requirement of the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme," stated the supplementary demand for grants.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances