'When you compare Bihar's poverty from its earlier times, then there is a huge difference. Things have improved a lot. And migration has played an important role in reducing poverty.'
The Maharashtra government has transferred Rs 17,505.90 crore into the bank accounts of 2.38 crore women beneficiaries under its Ladki Bahin Yojana till December 2024, in the first five months after the scheme was launched. The scheme, launched in August 2024, provides financial assistance of Rs 1,500 per month to eligible women. The objective of the scheme is to promote employment and economic development by providing adequate facilities to women and girls in the age group 21 to 65 years. The scheme aims to promote the empowerment of women and girls and improve the health and nutritional status of women and children dependent on them.
A year after the launch of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, two sets of figures that it throws up are arresting.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) board has approved liberalised part withdrawals for subscribers, allowing up to 100 per cent EPF withdrawal, and rolled out the 'Vishwas Scheme' to reduce litigation through rationalised penal damages.
Member of Parliament can now allocate funds from their local area development scheme kitty for rural employment guarantee programmes. The move that comes just ahead of Budget is aimed at providing the much-needed fiscal cushion to operate the UPA's most ambitious social security programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).
'We have been struggling with problems, but we want to elect Tejashwi to see him as the next chief minister.'
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, flagship rural development programme of the United Progressive Alliance government, was launched in February 2006 in 200 districts. It was later expanded to another 130 districts in 2007-08 and eventually extended to cover all the 593 districts.
The average Indian worker must labour for an extraordinary 160 full working days to afford Apple's latest iPhone 17 Pro.
"If implemented 'honestly and sincerely', the programme would increase the rural income and 'certainly we will be able to soften very considerably the harsh edges of extreme poverty," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.
Rahul Gandhi, along with a dozen Congress leaders, had met the prime minister on Wednesday to demand that the scheme, which guarantees 100 days employment to each rural household, be extended to the entire country.
Scheme faces pincer attack with a proposed higher proportion of expenditure on material, reducing the budget available to pay wages and focus on implementing it only in 2,500 blocks.
Quoting an incorrect PAN during property registration can invite penalties and prosecution.
'I need 3-4 lakhs for the wedding. All prospective grooms demand a motorcycle which costs 1 to 1.5 lakhs, then you have to also give a bed, cupboard, utensils, fridge,' says Kamala, her wrinkled forehead furrowing with despair.
Nearing the four crore (40 million) mark in providing jobs under MGNREGA, re-launching the Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas scheme and reinforcing social audit in programmes on complaints of irregularities were the foremost tasks of the rural development ministry in 2010.
More than 25 crore workers engaged in sectors ranging from banking, insurance, postal to coal mining, highway and construction are expected to go on a nationwide general strike on Wednesday, potentially disrupting services across the country. A forum of 10 central trade unions and their associates has called for a general strike or 'Bharat Bandh' to "oppose the anti-worker, anti-farmer and anti-national pro-corporate policies of the government".
The amount allocated for 2019-20 is 11 per cent higher compared to Rs 55,000 crore allocated for the year 2018-19.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the actual spending under the scheme in the fiscal year ending March 31 "would be highest".
The scheme guarantees 100 days work per household in a year and had been providing a major chunk by June each year.
Loss of confirmed orders, increase in wages and labour shortage were blamed on the scheme in a survey of 100 companies from diverse sectors.
Former Union panchayat raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, lately in the news for denouncing the Commonwealth Games, is aiming his guns much closer to the United Progressive Alliance government's heart, at the way it is implementing the flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
Any industrial policy is only as good as how it is applied and the other reforms that support it. This was as true 40 years ago as it is now, points out Debashis Basu.
Ramesh wants Maharashtra to be a pace setter.
The plan could mature into either an umbrella programme for urban youths similar to the Garib Kalyan Rozgaar Abhiyaan or a modified urban-focused version of MGNREGS.
'A balanced portfolio mix of domestic and international equity, fixed income, and precious metals is recommended.'
'There is no immediate threat to the government, and they would prefer the growth agenda.'
SBI data shows the per-capita payouts for scheme have shot up this year.
Mobile banking will soon reach Indian villagers as state govts tie up with banks, telecom companies to provide this facility to them.
Despite facing financial constraints, Kerala has been able to invest in welfare schemes and targeted programmes.
The top court's remark came while setting aside an order of the Madras high court which directed the Tamil Nadu government to create the posts under the designation.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said the rural spending would not be affected by the drought situation caused by delayed monsoon, but was likely to improve due to the government's flagship NREGS. He said there would be some revival in the third and fourth quarters though the overall growth would be moderate, with the current year recording a growth rate of 6 per cent.
The Budget allocated an increase in allocation for MGNREGS, LPG expansion, electrification & smart panchayats.
In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday underlined the need for collaboration between the Centre and states to take up the next-generation reforms covering land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship. As far as revenue share goes, the government has projected to give about 32.5 per cent of central taxes to states during FY25, against the 15th Finance Commission's recommendation of 41 per cent, according to the Union Budget estimate.
Every young diploma and degree holder in the country will have the right to apprenticeships in the private and government sectors, he said.
"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.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has called for speedy implementation of various welfare schemes, which target the weaker sections of society.
Among the social sector schemes introduced in the Eleventh Plan were the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Though the government is also planning to introduce a scheme for food security, it may be the only addition during the current plan.
Bhamori, a mother of eight is happy that she has a water tank constructed for free and also earned money for its construction in a village in Rajasthan where the largest beneficiary of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme are women.
The new credit-linked subsidy programme, called Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme, was approved at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The financial implication of the new scheme, to be implemented over a four-year period, is estimated at Rs 4,485 crore (Rs 44.85 billion), Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters.
SVAMITVA is a new government project that primarily aims to demarcate abadi areas that includes inhabitant land, inhabited areas contiguous to abadi and wadis/basties in rural areas, using drone surveying technology.
Refraining from tinkering with tax and duty rates in the interim Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday made a huge allocation of Rs 30,100 crore (Rs 301 billion) to government's flagship rural employment programme and many other schemes in a bid to counter the economic recession.
