The Best Evidence I’ve Seen Yet that NREGA is Working, part Deux

Apparently, I spoke too soon. This is undoubtedly the best evidence yet: His Holiness Jeff Sachs himself is now writing about the program.

Sach’s take:

Moreover, India's new rural employment guarantee scheme, just two years old, is not only employing millions of the poorest through public financing, but also is bringing tens of millions of them into the formal banking system, building on India's digital networks.

I'm a big fan of NREGA and I think the move by the Ministry of Rural Development to require all NREGA to be routed via bank accounts is a good one from the perspective of transparency and, but, as I've argued elsewhere, I'm a bit skeptical that the workers themselves will use the bank accounts for anything other than to withdraw their wages and I'm a bit worried about the capacity of banks to handle this massive influx of new customers.