'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.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government's last Budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups.
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.
'The real estate sector has been badly bruised because it has become too reliant on funding from NBFCs, including housing finance companies. 'When the NBFC industry was rocked late last year by a large default, the real estate sector was hit hard. 'An intricate web of links between rural incomes, construction activity and shadow banks are fuelling the economic slowdown', says Pranjul Bhandari.
The scheme guarantees 100 days work per household in a year and had been providing a major chunk by June each year.
Members protest, rural ministry assures it will not be so hereafter.
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.
A bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar directed the CBI to conduct the probe on the basis of the survey reports provided by the petitioner, CAG report and the National Institute of Rural Development.
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.
The National Level Monitors have pointed out grave irregularities in the NREGA scheme in Uttar Pradesh.
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.
At Head Held High, trainees begin with the basics -- the English alphabet.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee strongly retorted as 'distasteful' the taunt by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh while releasing the fourth installment of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act funds to her state that 'this reflects how sensitive the so-called 'brain-dead government in Delhi' is to the needs of the people of West Bengal'.
Patil in her address to both Houses of Parliament said higher public spending on programmes of rural development has successfully raised incomes in those areas.
Non-flagship programmes to get a mere 5% hike in allocation
Consumers are unlikely to disconnect their mobile connections and will most likely absorb the up to 22 per cent tariff hike imposed last week by Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi), according to analysts. The last major tariff hike in 2021 was followed by a 4-5 per cent SIM consolidation, with people leaving mobile operators with more expensive plans for their peers offering comparatively affordable options.
With Karnataka facing acute scarcity of drinking water and fodder due to deficient monsoon rains, new Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought an immediate Central assistance of Rs 2,000 crore to tackle the situation.
With the threat of a failed monsoon and an impending drought, the need for public works and for greater numbers of workers will arise in many states, says Aruna Roy
Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday urged his successor D V Sadananda Gowda to immediately release Rs 200 crore for providing employment to people in drought-hit areas under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
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.
Keeping the employment rate from slipping is challenging. To merely keep the employment rate unchanged, the economy has to generate additional jobs. It needs to run to stay where it is, points out Mahesh Vyas.
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.
Loss of confirmed orders, increase in wages and labour shortage were blamed on the scheme in a survey of 100 companies from diverse sectors.
Here is the complete list of ministers in Modi 3.0 and their portfolios:
Atishi will have a brief tenure in office as assembly elections in the national capital are due in February.
Pawar said the Union Cabinet has already decided last week to reschedule crop loans of farmers in the affected drought areas with reduced interest rate of 7 per cent.
The difference of wages and salaries between rural and urban women employees is of Rs 67.66, Union Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes said, citing a report of the National Sample Survey Organisation in the Upper House. The average wages and salaries of rural and urban women employees per day are Rs 85.53 and Rs 153.19 respectively, he said.
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.
Looking under the hood, I see India on the terrible, but commonplace, road to prosperity failure, warns Rathin Roy.
Will the new Congress government implement the five 'guarantees' that helped it in part to wrest power from the Bharatiya Janata Party in toto or will they now add a "conditions apply" clause?
A labour ministry note sent to the rural development ministry (MoRD) says the minimum wage notified in each state - often higher than the NREGA set one - has to be paid. But MoRD has written to the PMO that the NREGA enactment has clauses that exempt it from all other laws, including the Minimum Wages Act. Hence, MoRD is not legally obliged to pay at any other rate.
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.
Senior equity research analyst Ramesh Bhojwani's biggest disappointments include no word on foreign direct investment, an absolute silence on reforms which is the need of the hour in several sectors like banking, realty, infrastructure and power. "Even the issue of divestment in PSUs has been given a passing reference," he adds.
The government plans to create 50 to 100 rural business hubs through public-private-panchayat partnership throughout the country, so as to equally distribute the benefits of economic growth.
He pointed out that wages under the NREGA have been increased from Rs 61 to Rs 100 which would lead to earnings of Rs 10,000 annually 'irrespective of qualification'. Mukherjee, who is the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief urged party workers to pinpoint failures in implementation of the scheme at the block and panchayat levels.
The Democratic Front, in its manifesto, also sought to tap rural voters by promising at least 200 days of job under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
Non-government activists Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze, who are widely regarded as architects of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP), boycotted its fourth anniversary celebrations at Vigyan Bhavan, on Tuesday, as a protest against the manner in which the programme had been implemented.
