The situation could become more acute as millions of migrants who had returned to their villages during the lockdown come back to the towns for higher wages and better livelihoods.
The government may raise the number of job days under the NREGA scheme to compensate rural households for loss of income due to a poor monsoon in large part of the country.
As per the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, if a person dies by accident arising out of and in the course of employment, implementing agency will have to pay Rs 25,000 as ex-gratia to the legal heirs of the victim and the same will be the case if someone becomes permanently disabled while working under the programme.
Put the poor who have voted for this government at the centre of reforms, says Sunita Narain.
The Union government could target a fiscal deficit of 5.8-6 per cent of nominal GDP for 2023-24, and it should continue its capital expenditure push and look to simplify the personal income tax regime, economists recommended Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team during their pre-Budget interaction on Monday. Starting last week, Sitharaman had eight pre-Budget consultations this time. More than 110 invitees representing seven stakeholder groups participated in these meetings, the finance ministry said in a statement. The stakeholder groups included representatives and experts from agriculture and agro-processing industry; industry, infrastructure & climate change; financial sector and capital markets; services and trade; social sector; trade unions and labour organisations; and economists.
Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India had recently stated that real estate projects were experiencing time and cost overruns due to shortage of labour because of schemes like Nrega.
Government is targeting creation of around five crore (50 million) employment opportunities during the 10th plan period, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
Ramesh wants Maharashtra to be a pace setter.
The National Level Monitors have pointed out grave irregularities in the NREGA scheme in Uttar Pradesh.
Talking to PTI Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), said, "The two-day nationwide strike by the joint forum of central trade unions has begun this morning". About the impact of the agitation, she said that the entire coal belt (mining area) is affected in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. She also said that there is a good response in industrial areas of Assam, Haryana, Delhi, West Bengal, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bihar, Punjab, Rajasthan, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The AITUC official noted that the banks and insurance sectors are affected all over India, while steel and oil sectors are also seeing partial impact due to the strike. Kaur said that she has got preliminary reports that markets are closed in Odisha.
With hardly anything positive to flaunt before the electorate while seeking a third consecutive term at the Centre, Sonia Gandhi's Congress is desperately hoping that the food security law will help it win the support of the people much like the national rural employment guarantee or the right to information acts or the farm loan waivers had done for it in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, says Saroj Negi
Ramesh opposes Pawar's plan to provide cheap labour to farmers under NREGS.
'The feeling of love, brotherhood and composite culture exists among you all. I feel sad that the RSS and BJP are trying to break this culture,' Gandhi said in his address to Congress office-bearers and workers at a party function in Jammu on the second day of his two-day visit to Jammu.
The Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security has filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking a thorough probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scam in Bihar.
The causes are symptomatic with the UPA's failure to get going on the infrastructure front -- a key bottleneck as well as its inability to push agriculture growth, which slowed down from 6 per cent in 2005-06 to 2.7 per cent the year after.
A proposal to give foodgrains instead of cash to agriculture workers under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has "not received" any positive response, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told Rajya Sabha.
Bihar Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra on Monday ordered an inquiry into the allegations that nearly 73 per cent of the funds allotted for implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in 38 districts of Bihar, between 2006 and 2012, have been embezzled by authorities.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday launched the 'historic' National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme aimed at providing right to legal livelihood to the rural poor.
Describing non-resident Indians and Persons of Indian Origin as Citizens of India Overseas, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday asked them to invest in the manufacturing sector to give a boost to employment generation in the countr
Non-flagship programmes to get a mere 5% hike in allocation
The Centre's plan for a unique biometric-enabled number to every Indian resident is facing opposition from social activists who say it will impact civil liberties - state-citizen relations and privacy.
This election will be remembered for being the first election where the Election Commission failed to take action on gross violations involving the ruling party that repeatedly used religion, communal slurs, lies and undocumented allegations, observes Ramesh Menon.
The pilot project would begin from South 24 Parganas district and be gradually extended to all other 18 districts of the state, Panchayat and Rural development minister Subrata Mukherjee said.
The next government in these states may find it tough to push economic growth through long-term reforms, which would be necessary.
The debate on whether economic reforms and accelerated economic growth have led to faster reduction in poverty levels and employment growth continues to generate disagreement.
They said that massive public investment in infrastructure, social sectors and agriculture would generate employment and the Union Budget should give it a priority and allocate necessary funds for this.
The only option is to cool demand. In other words, cut back on spending and aim for slower growth.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh lays out the roadmap for rural growth --- without mincing words.
Accusing Jairam of making a mountain out of a molehill, she has sought to draw the prime minister's attention to the minister's bid to generalise some information.
Muzaffarpur tops the list with 96,855 double job cards under MNREGA.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has warned the officers of stern action if irregularities were detected in implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
Nearly 73 per cent of the funds allotted for the implantation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act in 38 districts of Bihar between 2006 and 2012 have been embezzled by authorities. Bihar spent a total amount of Rs 8,189 crore during 6 years on NREGA, according to an audit conducted by the Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security.
MGNREGA scheme: A significant Rs 17,370.58 crore has been carried forward over to the next financial year as unpaid dues as demand for work continued unabated for the scheme in rural areas.
New Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has, however, taken up the challenge on how to synchronise the employment guarantee programme with the ground realities.
NGOs have acquired a certain critical mass and are increasingly becoming powerful voices in public discourse.
State governments yet to act on sorting MGNREGA wage delays
China has sought information on India's poverty reduction programmes, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, to beef up its own strategy.
'There is one way to defeat the intention behind this directive: To patronise Muslim establishments that have been forced to identify themselves.' 'This is one opportunity for the Congress to show that the 'mohabbat ki dukaan' its leader talks about does exist.' 'Can Akhilesh Yadav, who has asked the court to take note of this directive, order his party members to do this?' asks Jyoti Punwani.
The Prime Minister also expressed concern over problems in implementation of MNREGA in Naxal-affected areas.
Farm activists say low MSP is fine, if salaries revised under the Sixth Pay Commission are lowered.
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