GOVT GETS SONIA'S IRE IN NAC REPORT

NAC gives 35 pages report to the nation about non implementation
On the day of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave a full page email interview to Hindustan Times talking about his achievements and legacy, boss Sonia Gandhi's National Advisory Council (NAC) Friday showed up the government's inaction on a score of recommendations in the last two years, including food security.
The NAC  censure, though not a direct rap, is contained in the form of "the current status of the NAC recommendations in the Government" in a 35-page report approved in the meeting on the work done by the council and action taken and not taken by the government.
The report will be an embarrassment to the government as Sonia Gandhi ordered that it be placed on the NAC website for information to the public as it shows how the government has been dragging its feet on the recommendations for social change.
The NAC is upset that the government is also diluting its recommendations like those on the food security bill in which it has sought a universal public distribution system (PDS) covering the entire population and enlarging of the list of targeted beneficiaries to include marginalised groups such as the homeless and destitute senior citizens.
The report shows how little has been done on the NAC's repeated stress for enactment of the communal violence bill and the land acquisition-rehabilitation bill, besides its call for strengthening the forest dwellers' rights bill.
The NAC members were also given a presentation by the labour and finance ministry officials on their recommendations to the government in April for a comprehensive social security package through a single window to unorganised workers. The NAC asked them to submit detailed features of the scheme, including the implementation architecture and phased converage, in its next meeting on August 24.
A NAC press release said the meeting also discussed the threat of a failed monsoon and an impending drought that may put pressure on the Mahatma Gandhi MNREGS to provide employment to the rural jobless (details here).
The council expressed concern over several challenges in "basic implementation" of MNREGS and decided that "it is crucial to interface with workers". Sonia Gandhi asked the NAC working group on transparency, accountability and governance to hold consultations with the workers in tandem with the rural development ministry to measure the impact of the scheme, monitor its implementation and suggest effective measures.