NREGS in Jharkhand: Some positive outcomes, but a long struggle ahead
Although the NREGS has made a significant difference to the lives of many poor households in Jharkhand, there is still a long way to go before it can be called an accountable rights-based development programme.

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Problems with job cards and payments major failings of NREGS in Jharkhand
Major issues raised at NREGS advocacy workshops in Jharkhand, in October 2008, included discrepancies in job cards and payments to workers.

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Middlemen, institutional lacunae key areas of concern in Jharkhand NREGS
Middlemen, inadequate institutional arrangements and new methods of corruption are major hindrances in implementation of the Jharkhand Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

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Pani Morcha resolves 30-year struggle for water
A Jharkhand-based CSO has demonstrated how morchas, or people-based platforms organised around a particular issue, can yield tangible results.

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Adivasis involved in Gandhian struggle to reclaim land
A hundred Santhal families in Giridih, Jharkhand, are involved in a non-violent struggle to reclaim 24 acres of land illegally claimed by a landlord.

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Using RTI in urban slums
Women in Ranchi’s slums are using the Right To Information (RTI) to ensure better civic amenities and Public Distribution System (PDS) entitlements.

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A helping hand for the elderly poor
Associations of elderly people, or vridha sanghs help the elderly poor get social welfare benefits in Jharkhand.

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Rozgar adhikar yatras in MP, Jharkhand
On the eve of the India Social Forum, the PACS Programme, in association with other organisations, held a number of rozgar adhikar yatras to create mass awareness about the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), and conduct social audits.

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Status of NREGS in Jharkhand
Lack of information among applicants and officials, absence of panchayati raj institutions, and poor data-collection dogs the NREGS in Jharkhand.

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Contractors infiltrate NREGS in Jharkhand
Although the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act explicitly forbids the use of contractors, the experience of PACS Programme partners in Jharkhand reveals otherwise.

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Training CSOs in diverse communication building strategies
Workshops held in Ranchi and Bhopal exposed PACS Programme CSOs to use of alternative media such as wall newspapers, comics and digital media

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Training women journalists to write on development issues
A Jharkhand based communication agency for the PACS Programme has held two workshops to train women journalists to write on development issues.

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Changes suggested in Jharkhand’s employment guarantee scheme
PACS Programme partners in Jharkhand have suggested some important changes in the scheme framed by the state government under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Some changes have already been made.

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Women unite to protect forests
Women of six villages in Jharkhand’s Hazaribaug district have successfully initiated a joint forest protection programme to prevent illegal tree-felling and grazing.

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Women SHG members battle problems at multiple levels
Women’s voice of assertion is often resented by males and vested interests. As they strive to work for social goals, women also frequently face serious problems at home and SHGs are compelled to intervene in domestic issues

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A primitive tribe learns to earn from its craft
The Malhars, a primitive tribe living on the fringes of rural Jharkhand, are being trained to adapt their traditional metal-casting skills to the demands of modern-day markets

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Surviving on a weed boiled in water: Food (in)security in Jharkhand
Acute poverty, lack of employment and a complete failure of the public distribution system. This is the situation in rural Jharkhand.

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