NREGA

I am not a big fan of NREGA, the UPA governments flagship project. In a nice piece Prashanth discusses why NREGA will not work and provides mechanisms to implement it.
I will let him do the talking

It might be politically expedient to increase the size of the scheme in the mistaken notion that it directly translates into votes, considering the forthcoming assembly elections in many Indian states, but it will be economically suicidal for the country. The opportunity cost of gargantuan spending in social safety schemes for the entire economy–which will not be visible in the immediate and short term–will be very high in the long term, especially due to the large borrowing by the government.

So succinctly put!