Date:29/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/29/stories/2007092963020100.htm

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Rural job scheme for entire country

Aarti Dhar

Will cost exchequer Rs. 20,000 crore

NEW DELHI: The Union government on Friday announced the extension of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which guarantees 100 days of wage employment to rural households, to all districts in the country.

On Wednesday, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and made a request for the extension.

The announcement came after a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, and attended by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and the Member-Secretary of Planning Commission. The scheme will cover the remaining 265 districts from April 1 next year.

With an initial allocation of Rs. 11,500 crore, the scheme was started in February 2006 in 200 most backward districts having high Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population. An additional 130 districts were notified in 2007-08 and the budgetary allocation went up to Rs. 12,000 crore.

Announcing the decision, Mr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the programme was expected to cost the government Rs. 20,000 crore a year.

Mr. Singh thanked Mr. Gandhi for supporting the “revolutionary” job scheme, which, he said, was being appreciated the world over. Mr. Singh said he had the support of all political parties in this respect. The universalisation of the Act ahead of schedule was a vindication of its positive impact on the rural poor. It also reflected the government’s unflinching commitment to improving the condition of the rural poor.

The NREGA was enacted as part of the UPA government’s National Common Minimum Programme.