MGNREGA empowered citizens to engage the state on equal terms. VB-GRAMG recasts them as labharthis, who must prove eligibility to receive the largesse of a benevolent leader.
Central Employment Guarantee Council is meant to have 15 central/state govt officials & 12 non-official members. Its meetings are on hold due to delays in appointments of the latter.
The AAP govt has extracted more political capital from sacrilege accountability than any of its predecessors. It now has the opportunity — and the obligation — to match that rhetoric with performance in court.
IEA projects sharp reversal from its earlier expectations, with global demand for oil in 2026 turning negative. Hormuz disruptions have pushed crude prices to $130 per barrel.
We now live in a world order that will keep shifting. India must use this window. This also means we remain disciplined enough not to be knee-jerked into reacting to what Pakistan sees as its moment in the sun.
The Print should not take its readers for fools!
The Print should explain to their guest columnists – particularly those from the Mani Shankar Aiyar stable – that they need to provide reasoned arguments backed up by data. We are used to excellent articles from The Print editorial staff which are well informed and backed by data. PLEASE don’t demean your publication and your readers by publishing such one sided, illogical articles which are devoid of any factual data
The author says all the benefits of MGNREGA will be undone by VB-GRAMG. But she didn’t mention even a single statement on why she thinks so. Either she doesn’t know anything about VB-GRAMG or she is a blind Congress supporter.
This article is a dishonest exercise in verbal gymnastics. Calling middle- men free, corruption free direct transfer of the State’s assets to the poorest, is techno-revolutionary. MNREGA’s imagined citizenship rights never materialized. And any vision is good enough only if it can be materialized. The author sounds like she and her collaborators know so well to do this or has such a great feeling about how MNREGA empowers even when in reality it didn’t. It is a lie to state that people were not labharthis under MNREGA. People were labharthis under MNREGA as well having to deal with local micro politics and middle
Men and as a result devoid of dignity. What changes Mai-bapism to empowerment is dignity. By peoples own widespread admission through the ballot and first hand evidence is that the current techno-democratic approach of direct access to the rights of citizenship, is also bringing the notion of dignity. That is what the right of a citizen vis a vis a state should be. That is citizen – state equity in action as a result of direct democratic intervention. And as others have commented there is no discussion of the merits of the VB- GRAM system. That itself belies the author’s concern about equity between state and citizen. If she as author cannot bring even basic transparency to the reader, and treat the reader with dignity and on an equal stance, how is she qualified to comment on any form of democratic equity? Her primary grouse seems to be that the leader at the top gets full and complete positive response from the labharthis. This is pure envy wrapped up as academic verbiage.
Dear Print editorial team, for a publication that insits on waxing eloquent about “independent” and “dehyphenated” journalism, you sure do struggle with providing a full disclosure – literally days after “that” movie review related tamasha, where you conveniently forgot to mention the so called film critics guild’s leadership were the same individuals it was defending, thereby raising questions of bias in their stance, you have yet again neglected to mention the author of this article is the daughter of former “panchayat raj” minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. Even shopping mall lucky draws forbid relatives of employees from participating as a precaution against bias. That’s how you create an echo chamber.
This is such an incomplete article. MGNREGA is now history. It has been replaced by G RAM G. But there is no discussion of the new scheme, no comparison of provisions and nothing about relative merits. We need a more extensive coverage.
The Print should not take its readers for fools!
The Print should explain to their guest columnists – particularly those from the Mani Shankar Aiyar stable – that they need to provide reasoned arguments backed up by data. We are used to excellent articles from The Print editorial staff which are well informed and backed by data. PLEASE don’t demean your publication and your readers by publishing such one sided, illogical articles which are devoid of any factual data
The author says all the benefits of MGNREGA will be undone by VB-GRAMG. But she didn’t mention even a single statement on why she thinks so. Either she doesn’t know anything about VB-GRAMG or she is a blind Congress supporter.
This article is a dishonest exercise in verbal gymnastics. Calling middle- men free, corruption free direct transfer of the State’s assets to the poorest, is techno-revolutionary. MNREGA’s imagined citizenship rights never materialized. And any vision is good enough only if it can be materialized. The author sounds like she and her collaborators know so well to do this or has such a great feeling about how MNREGA empowers even when in reality it didn’t. It is a lie to state that people were not labharthis under MNREGA. People were labharthis under MNREGA as well having to deal with local micro politics and middle
Men and as a result devoid of dignity. What changes Mai-bapism to empowerment is dignity. By peoples own widespread admission through the ballot and first hand evidence is that the current techno-democratic approach of direct access to the rights of citizenship, is also bringing the notion of dignity. That is what the right of a citizen vis a vis a state should be. That is citizen – state equity in action as a result of direct democratic intervention. And as others have commented there is no discussion of the merits of the VB- GRAM system. That itself belies the author’s concern about equity between state and citizen. If she as author cannot bring even basic transparency to the reader, and treat the reader with dignity and on an equal stance, how is she qualified to comment on any form of democratic equity? Her primary grouse seems to be that the leader at the top gets full and complete positive response from the labharthis. This is pure envy wrapped up as academic verbiage.
Dear Print editorial team, for a publication that insits on waxing eloquent about “independent” and “dehyphenated” journalism, you sure do struggle with providing a full disclosure – literally days after “that” movie review related tamasha, where you conveniently forgot to mention the so called film critics guild’s leadership were the same individuals it was defending, thereby raising questions of bias in their stance, you have yet again neglected to mention the author of this article is the daughter of former “panchayat raj” minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. Even shopping mall lucky draws forbid relatives of employees from participating as a precaution against bias. That’s how you create an echo chamber.
This is such an incomplete article. MGNREGA is now history. It has been replaced by G RAM G. But there is no discussion of the new scheme, no comparison of provisions and nothing about relative merits. We need a more extensive coverage.