A globally unique programme allowed the poor to demand – and get – jobs, empowering rural women. Narendra Modi courts trouble by hollowing it out
Few countries have attempted anything as ambitious as India’s rural jobs guarantee. Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, any adult in the countryside who demanded work was entitled to a job on local public works within 15 days, failing which the government had to pay an unemployment allowance. Enacted in 2005, MGNREGA created the world’s most far-reaching legal right to employment. It generates 2bn person-days of work a year for about 50m households. Over half of all workers were women, and about 40% came from Dalit and tribal communities.
For a country where vast numbers rely on seasonal farm work, the scheme mattered. It stabilised incomes, raised rural wages, expanded women’s bargaining power and reduced internal migration. Households could demand up to 100 days of paid work at a statutory minimum wage, turning employment into an enforceable right. The World Bank derided it as a “barrier to development” in 2009 – but praised it as “stellar” five years later. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has however replaced this rights-based system with a centrally managed welfare scheme, VB-G RAM G, a shift opposed by the Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and the inequality scholar Thomas Piketty.
Working-class common sense and direct, plain speaking worked for me. Southerners often see this as being “blunt”, especially in the business world. There, it’s all about endless talking that means nothing and makes sure nothing gets done.
The consistent pattern is not of any sort of moral restraint, but self-licensing. For him, truth is merely tactical. Rules and conventions are obeyed when convenient, but ignored when obstructive. He resists accountability. When challenged, his response is almost always to retaliate.
Anela Anwar, the head of acharity for children in care and young care leavers, calls for greater support across housing, health, education and employment
At Become, the national charity for children in care and young care leavers, we agree with your editorial that the government’s recent offer of free eye tests and prescriptions for care leavers is a welcome step in strengthening support for those leaving care (The Guardian view on care leavers: responsibility for looked-after children does not end at 18, 2 January). However, this measure does little to address the far more urgent crisis facing care leavers: a third will experience homelessness within two years of leaving care.
Every year, thousands of young people are forced out of care before they are ready, often on their 18th birthday or even younger, with vital support vanishing overnight. Many are pushed into unsuitable housing, such as B&Bs and hostels where they don’t feel safe. They then face the challenge of managing household bills while trying to continue education or find work.
• Years ago there was an advert for the railways with the slogan “This is the age of the train” (Letters, 7 January). On one of them someone had written “This train takes ages”. Maggie Rylance Winchester
The most romantic way to traverse the continent is environmentally friendly and popular with the public. But market challenges need addressing
When the European Union made its 2020 commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century, there was a wave of excitement about what that might mean for the continent’s most romantic form of travel. The golden era of night trains had, it was previously assumed, gone for good amid the rise of low-cost, short-haul flights. But the new environmental imperatives suggested that they could be a glamorous part of a greener future, delivering a climate impact that was 28 times less than flying. The European Commission enthusiastically identified a plethora of potential new routes that it judged could be economically viable.
Sadly, due to a series of challenges that Brussels and national governments have done too little to address, the renaissance appears to be stalling. Last month, a two-year-old night service linking Paris with Vienna and Berlin was scrapped after state subsidies were removed. The French operator, SNCF, has claimed that without financial assistance, the particular costs associated with running a night train are simply too high. Meanwhile, a petition was vainly launched to save the new Basel-Copenhagen-Malmö route, which was due to open in April but has also been derailed by the withdrawal of state funding.
Boy born in Bow would go on to play the devoted father and taxi driver in the BBC One soap between 2000 and 2011
Derek Martin, who starred as Charlie Slater in EastEnders, has died aged 92.
Martin played the devoted father and taxi driver on the BBC One soap between 2000 and 2011, and continued making guest appearances until his departure in 2016.
The Dead were a formative band for the National. Getting to play with Bob felt like entering a portal into their mystical, musical landscape – though he was always completely present
It’s hard to believe that Bob Weir, founding member of the Grateful Dead who carried the torch for the band’s music after Jerry Garcia passed in 1995, is gone. He had the vibrant, playful energy, constant curiosity and adventurous disposition of someone who seemed as if they would just always be around. Bobby, as he was affectionately known to fans, helped start the legendary band as a teenager in the mid-1960s and co-wrote and sang many of their most famous songs, including Sugar Magnolia and Truckin’. Much more than that, he kept the Grateful Dead’s spirit and music alive more recently in various forms including RatDog, the Other Ones and Dead & Company.
For so many of us, the Grateful Dead was much more than the music we grew up with; it was an endlessly fascinating culture that spanned generations and an integral part of the fabric and foundation of the American musical vernacular. Bobby’s highly creative and unusual way of playing rhythm guitar was an essential counterpoint to Jerry’s inimitable lead playing. Together they defined the core of the band’s sound which was documented throughout its exhaustive touring history by a live taping and bootleg-sharing culture which they embraced.
Gabriel Martinelli ended Arsenal’s last game as public enemy No 1 with Liverpool fans and Gary Neville after his clash with Conor Bradley on Thursday. But the Brazilian was his team’s saviour against Portsmouth, after the Championship side had threatened briefly to record their first win against the Premier League leaders in 23 attempts after Colby Bishop’s early strike.
Martinelli’s first senior hat‑trick included two almost identical headers from corners after an own goal from Andre Dozzell had drawn them level following – you guessed it – another corner. That takes Arsenal’s tally from set‑pieces this season to 17 and one wonders where they would be without them. Yet such is their proficiency under Nicolas Jover these days that Mikel Arteta can virtually rely on at least one bearing fruit.
Title: Cunning Comfort Author:kalira Fandom: Moon Child Ship/Characters: Kei & Sho Rating/Category: T/Gen Prompt: Moon Child, Kei & or / Sho, soothing nightmares Spoilers: general, that Kei has nightmares Summary: If Kei won't accept comfort for himself . . . well, Sho will just have to think of some way to work around him and give it anyway. Notes/Warnings: N/A Wordcount: 1,050
I've got French onion soup simmering away in the slow cooker (I sliced almost 3 lbs of onions last night and my eyes - even with the stupid onion goggles - were not happy with me) and I just took a pan of baked oatmeal out of the oven to be breakfast for the week. I was waffling between the oatmeal and another batch of orange cranberry scones, but the oatmeal won out because it used up a bunch of stuff - the dregs of both a bottle of honey and a bottle of maple syrup; the last 2 eggs in the carton (I still have a carton of eggs in the fridge, but now just the amount a normal person would have); the rest of a bag of frozen strawberries; the rest of a bag of chocolate chips; what was left in the bottom of the jar of cinnamon; and what was left in the container of rolled oats (exactly 3 cups - exactly as much as needed for the recipe). I still have cranberries in the freezer, though, so orange cranberry scones are probably still in my future.
Now I'm trying to decide if I want to make a loaf of bread to go with the soup. I originally bought a small loaf with my groceries on Friday, but then ate it as cheesy garlic bread for a couple of meals. *hands* The heart wants what it wants, and in this case, my heart wanted cheesy garlic bread.
Since the slow cooker is working, I can't use the KitchenAid (it is blocked in by the InstantPot), so I want a no knead kind of bread, but also one that is only going to take 2-3 hours, nothing that needs an overnight rise. I think I might end up making the old, reliable peasant bread (halved to only make 1 loaf). It's easy and fast (for bread), and doesn't require a stand mixer.
Since it indicates the official language and main ethnicity of China, this character is of utmost linguistic and political importance for readers of Language Log.
Prompted by Philip Taylor (commenting on this post [first item in the list of "Selected readings" below]), this ample response from ChatGPT would seem to cover all the bases for what 漢 means.
One important meaning of 漢 omitted in the above generous overview is pejorative, "a bad guy", as shown by this entry in Wiktionary. Although, in this term, èhàn 惡漢 ("villain; scoundrel; bad guy"), 漢 is explicitly modified by the negative adjective 惡, 漢 by itself can have derogatory implications, somewhat like "hombre" ("man") in "mock Spanish" when used disrespectfully.
Such derisive connotations of 漢 have been explored and documented by the early medieval historian Sanping Chen in his studies on Chinese onomastics.
Sanping Chen, an academic and author, has written extensively about Chinese history and ethnolinguistics. He has noted the historical, derogatory usage of the term Hàn during the Northern Dynasties and discussed the complex, shifting meanings of ethnonyms in Chinese history. His work highlights that cultural terms are not static and can change meaning dramatically over time and depending on who is using them.
The character 漢 (Hàn) does not inherently mean "bad guy". Its primary meanings are related to the Han Dynasty, the Han ethnic group, or a river.
The potential association with a negative term comes from complex historical usage and specific compound words, often discussed by scholar Sanping Chen:
Hàn'er (漢兒) / Hànzi (漢子): During China's Northern Dynasties (386-577 AD), non-Sinitic ruling peoples sometimes used these terms as derogatory references for their Han Chinese subjects, meaning something like "Han boy/fellow/guy".
Hànjiān (漢奸): This is a specific, modern pejorative term meaning "Han traitor" or "collaborator," used for those seen as betraying the Chinese state or Han ethnicity.
Hǎohàn (好漢): Conversely, a positive term, "good Han," means a "brave man" or "hero".
Chīhàn (痴漢): In Japanese, this word (written with the character for Hàn) means "molester" or "pervert".
(AIO)
*****
It should be pointed out that the designation "Hàn 漢" for the main ethnicity and language of the PRC / ROC is not uncontested. Ditto for their ventured translations ("Chinese; Sinitic").
*****
For those who would like to know how to write this 14-stroke sinograph, click on the arrowhead next to its calligraphed form at the top left of this zdic page.
Words ending in 漢 in Japanese are generally negative. Some examples are 悪漢 (akkan, a villain), 怪漢 (kaikan, a suspicious-looking fellow), 凶漢 or 暴漢 (kyoukan or boukan, a thug), 無頼漢 (buraikan, a libertine)… Note however that many of the usages recorded in the dictionary are so obsolete that my IME cannot recognize them, like 破廉恥漢 (harenchikan, a knave).
Some terms are more neutral, such as 巨漢 (kyokan, a giant) or 大食漢 (taishokukan, a great eater), although these are hardly nice things to be called either. The only definitely positive examples I can find are 好漢 (koukan, a good guy) and 硬骨漢 (koukotsukan, a stalwart). 正義漢 (seigikan, a crusader for justice) seems like it could go either way, but I suspect the sense is unflattering.
Other than 痴漢 and perhaps 巨漢, these are all thoroughly obsolete. My impression is that it must have been a productive suffix around the 19th century that has fallen out of use, and has been replaced with 家 or 人. Perhaps this is because 漢 is explicitly male gendered? Its parallel in English might be "fellow," which was similarly ubiquitous around that time and is now unheard of.
Victor H. Mair, "The Classification of Sinitic Languages: What Is 'Chinese'?, in Breaking Down the Barriers: interdisciplinary studies in Chinese linguistics and beyond(Festschrift for Alain Peyraube), pp. 735-754 (free pdf), esp. pp. 739-741.
Victor H. Mair, "The North(west)ern Peoples and the Recurrent Origins of the 'Chinese' State", in Joshua A. Fogel, The Teleology of the Modern Nation-State: Japan and China (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), pp. 46-84.
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