After a gap of more than three years, the central government has agreed to resume the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) works in West Bengal with immediate effect, but subject to mandatory adherence to stringent conditions. These include a prohibition on any work valued at more than 20 lakh, compulsory 100 per cent electronic know-your-customer (eKYC) verification of all workers, and mandatory pre-estimation field visits for all works before they are undertaken.
'Previously, contributing only 25 per cent of material costs, states now face burdens of 40 per cent to 100 per cent of total costs, ensuring poorer states will curb project approvals, directly stifling work demand.'
The government's bill for funding the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has risen steeply, due to its decision to revise wage rates under these projects and to link these to the inflation rate.
NREGS has no place in the scheme of things that Kejriwal prescribes for the nation in his book Swaraj.
Andhra Pradesh Rural Development Minister V Vasant Kumar on Tuesday said the daily wages paid to workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in the state will be enhanced from May 1.
The Tamil Nadu development formula makes programmes like the NREGS work through simple but top-down solutions.
The latest measure assumes importance as it has come to the notice of the Orissa government that the payment of wages to some NREGS workers is not made within a fortnight. In some districts, the wages are not paid to the workers for months together. It is reportedly causing resentment among people prompting them to abstain from work.
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.
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.
"It is not true that there is 30-40 per cent siphoning," rural development minister C P Joshi told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.
Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has said states would not be allowed to ignore the findings of the social audits notified recently by his ministry on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
The forthcoming Budget is likely to make a provision of Rs 64,000 crore (Rs 640 billion) for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in 2011-12, against Rs 40,100 crore (Rs 401 billion) in the current fiscal.
The project titled 'Thanal' launched by Edavaka Gram Panchayat with MGNREGS help, has provided less strenuous jobs for 600 senior citizens, including 250 tribals and 10 physically challenged in 15 nursery units, Panchayat President, Justine Baby has said.
More people opting for work under the scheme would aggravate the shortage of workers in farms.
Government will roll out National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme in all the 596 rural districts in the country in 2008-09.
Gandhi said he would bring in experts from Andhra Pradesh to suggest ways and means for proper implementation of NREGS.
The Union government is on a social sector roll. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had indicated that the United Progressive Alliance government was going to make the social sector the centrepiece of the upcoming Budget. According to Dilip Ghosh, special secretary, Panchayat Raj department of West Bengal, the Centre has indicated that the demand for grants for these projects should be hiked at least 50 per cent more than the present allocation.
Suu Kyi will be accompanied by Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy will visit, official sources said in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Ramesh opposes Pawar's plan to provide cheap labour to farmers under NREGS.
Although India is a labour-surplus economy with an unlimited number of workers willing to work at a subsistence wage a paradoxical feature of the labour market is the rising incidence of scarcity or shortages amid a situation of potential plenty.
At least 22 Uttar Pradesh government officials have been suspended for their alleged bungling of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) funds.
This step has been taken by the DM after all his efforts to spur the staff failed and the district continued to be placed among the least performing districts of the state in implementation of the scheme, the ADM added.
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was launched by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the first flush of its commitment to the 'Aam Aadmi' agenda.
As indicated by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the UPA government has already initiated process to make higher allocation in social sector.
The thrust on agriculture, removal of Fringe Benefit Tax etc should help improve the earnings of the FMCG sector
There are other ways in which markets are capable of serving the poor better than large-scale and often unaffordable anti-poverty interventions.
"Though we welcome the amendments to Succession Act, passing of Domestic Violence Act, women quota in NREG Act and the announcement of extension of maternity leave to six months, we are critical of the failure of the UPA government to introduce the bill on 33 per cent reservations of seats to women in Parliament and state assemblies," the resolution, adopted on the penultimate day of the ongoing 20th Congress of the CPI, noted.
The recent draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which pointed to misuse and non-utilisation of funds for the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme doesn't mean the programme is a write-off. The audit will act as a deterrent and spur state governments to work more efficiently, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has said.
Higher inflation might just be the necessary cost that we need to bear in making a transition to a higher growth trajectory.
Congress member E M Sudarsana Natchiappan said by marching to the Divisional Commissioner's office in Jhansi to know why people were being deprived of their right to employment under the NREGS, Rahul Gandhi had proved himself to be 'Yuvraj of people and the Yuvraj of my party'.
In spite of receiving much criticism for his Budget, it has to be acknowledged that FM Chidambaram has pulled the right strings to increase allocations in various schemes. He has effectively curbed govt's spending and has also seen to it that money is not misdirected to wrong pockets. Confronted by political demands, he has responsibly maintained fiscal health and political agendas. He has shown finesse in handling political games and deserves credit for his accomplishments.
One solution to India's challenges of education, employment, employability lies in state governments adopting apprenticeships on a large scale.
During the UPA government's second term in office, rural India's consumption expenditure grew at a faster pace than urban India's - for the first time since 1991.
Higher disposable incomes, rural push and infra push to boost auto sector
Finance ministry's drive is meant to meet fiscal deficit target and improve overall efficiency in government spending.
Thousands of hands went up in the air to greet the Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi as he landed in the semi urban constituency of Aurangabad in Bihar after making the crowd to wait for two hours in the open on a hot sunny afternoon.
If the presentation made by the Commission to the chief ministers is followed in letter and spirit, central sector and sponsored schemes will no longer be the domain of central ministries alone.
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