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NREGA, MGNREGA

2011-01-17T22:38:00.000-08:00

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MGNREGA job card holders allege use of machines

2011-01-13T20:59:00.000-08:00

MNREGA job card holders allege use of machines

Jalandhar:National Level Monitor Jagdish Kumar, who is looking into the allegations of irregularities in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Punjab, paid a field visit to the offices of various block development and panchayat officers and villages on Thursday.

Appointed by the Centre to probe the allegations levelled in a complaint lodged by Jalandhar District Youth Congress president Vikramjit Singh, Kumar visited Bhogpur and Phillaur blocks and the gram panchayats of Ittanbaddi, Dhamuli, Loharan, Ramgarh, Gurha and a few other places. He also recorded the statements of MNREGA job card holders.

At Dhamuli village in Bhogpur block, the job card holders alleged that a ditch machine was used to clean the pond, instead of employing them, which was a violation of the MNREGA, which bans use of machines for work that can be done by labourers. The card holders alleged that they were not provided any unemployment allowance either.

Job card holders from Gurha village and Indira Colony in Phillaur block told Kumar that they had been demanding job for a long time but the authorities were not paying any heed.

They submitted their complaints in writing, citing the date of their applications and the period for which work was demanded. When contacted, Jagdish Kumar did not comment on the ditch machine, stating that he would say everything in his report.

Employment growth vital for ensuring development process: Mukherjee

2011-01-12T20:49:00.000-08:00

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said that growth in employment opportunities is vital for ensuring an inclusive development process.

In his customary pre-budget meeting with trade unions' group here, Mukherjee said: "To achieve that end, the Central Government has adopted a multi-pronged strategy focusing on rapid growth for reducing poverty and creating employment opportunities, improving access to essential services in health and education especially for the poor, and empowerment through education and skill development."

He further said that one of the biggest challenge before our nation today is to find the correct balance between the need for economic growth and the opportunities that need to be created for bringing the more disadvantaged and vulnerable section of people into the mainstream of the development process.

"We also have to address the growing aspirations of young India. We need to have sustained higher economic growth with inclusive development," he added.

He said that schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Bharat Nirman, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission among others launched by the Government in the last few years have shown encouraging results in meeting some of the requirements of the disadvantaged sections of the society.

He said that we have been making significant increase in our budgetary allocations for anti-poverty programmes, but these have to support the desired outcomes.

"We have to make a quantum improvement in the implementation of public welfare and development programmes," he added.

Mukherjee further said that on the employment front, the quarterly reports released by the Labour Bureau for July-September 2010 show a continuing upward trend.

"At the sectoral level, textile sector, IT / BPO industry, automobile industry and metal industry show an encouraging growth in employment," he added.

Mukherjee later invited the suggestions from the representatives of different Trade Union Groups for addressing the short and medium term concerns in our labour markets and in the rest of the

This was the third meeting in the series of pre-Budget consultations held by Finance Minister with the stakeholders of different sectors. (ANI)

MGNREGA: Sonia's advice defied on minimum wages

2011-01-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

JAIPUR: The move of the ministry of rural development (MoRD) of not ensuring that workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are paid the minimum wages is being seen as a gross defiance of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's plea to the Prime Minister.

The Mazdoor Kishan Shakti Sanghathan (MKSS) that has been advocating minimum wages for MGNREGA workers and which, along with several other NGOs, are agitating in the city for about three fortnights has criticised this just days after the MoRD indexed MGNREGA wages to inflation addresses but did nothing to ensure that it meets the Minimum Wages Act (MWA).

"The MGNREGA wage in 10 states will be less than the prevailing minimum wage. The thrust of the National Advisory Council (NAC) chairperson, Sonia Gandhi's letter to the Prime Minister communicating the NAC consensus was that workers under the MGNREGA need to be paid minimum wages as notified under the Minimum wages Act, 1948. She had further said that `Workers under MGNREGS are being paid less than statutory minimum wage. This is totally unacceptable and needs to be corrected at once.' But the MoRD has done nothing regarding this," said Aruna Roy, member of the NAC and MKSS.

"In fact, the letter from the Prime Minister categorically stated that the government had decided that the MGNREGA workers would not be covered by the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act. This is despite a strong contrary opinion from the ministry of labour among others," she added.

Nikhil Dey, another activists of the MKSS, felt that this is a violation of a citizen's fundamental rights and tantamounts to forced labour. "The Supreme Court in the Sanjit Roy v/s State of Rajasthan (1983) even declared the exemption of the Act as unconstitutional and had said that no person shall be required or permitted to provide labour or service to another on payment of anything less than the minimum wage and if minimum wage is not paid to a workman employed in any famine relief work, it would be clearly violative of Article 23," said Dey.

He also told Indira Jaisingh, additional advocate general, on the compulsions of the MoRD to pay the minimum wages.

"To have to belabour this point to the MoRD, no less, is proof of how far our country has drifted from the requirements of fundamental rights and the ideals of Directive Principles of State Policy drafted by our forefathers. The MoRD has also deliberately ignored the orders of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, and is facing contempt proceedings for not paying minimum wages to the MGNREGA workers. Even the current notification will result in the MGNREGA workers still getting less than the minimum wage," Dey added.

The activists felt that the UPA government has strayed from its own promise in its Common Minimum Program where it had talked to about the six basic principles for governance, including enhancing the welfare and well-being of farmers, farm labour and workers, particularly those in the unorganised sector.

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MGNREGA provided employment to nearly 4 crore people in 2010

2011-01-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

MGNREGA provided employment to nearly 4 crore people in 2010

NEW DELHI: Nearing the four crore mark in providing jobs under MGNREGA , re-launching the Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas scheme and reinforcing social audit in programmes on complaints of irregularities were the foremost tasks of the rural development ministry in 2010.

While 3.9 crore households were provided employment, the share of women beneficiaries under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act went up to 51 per cent, with over 69.14 crore beneficiaries.

The MoRD's functioning witnessed a revived zest in February after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted there were some "lapses" in the flagship job guarantee scheme's implementation, including the problem of payment of wages to workers.

Even though there were reports that states like Rajasthan failed to check distress migration as minimum 100 days of employment assured under the Act was not provided to all workers, the scheme did manage to add 51 crore beneficiaries from Scheduled Castes and 23.36 crore from Scheduled Tribes.

In its maiden attempt to deliver amenities in rural areas, the MoRD re-launched the PURA scheme under a public-private partnership model with support from Department of Economic Affairs and technical assistance from Asian Development Bank .

Corporates that take up works under PURA are tasked with improving infrastructure for water and sewerage, maintenance of village streets, skill development apart from adding people-centric initiatives such as village linked tourism, integrated rural hub (market), agri-common centres and warehousing.

Instances of alleged irregularities from certain states prompted the ministry to strengthen social audit in the programmes and consider appointment of an Ombudsman for effective grievance redressal in each district.

Apart from the ministry's internal mechanism to check graft there were instances in which the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, intervened and told authorities to probe allegations ranging from alleged embezzlement of funds to diversion of money from the target population.

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MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat

2011-01-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat........

JAIPUR: The social audit of development work under the MGNREGA in Todgarh panchayat, Ajmer, has confirmed the Rs 56-lakh embezzlement found by the district administration in a recent enquiry. The findings were read out at the social audit gram sabha on Thursday.

The Todgarh panchayat is close to Malaton Ki Weir, also in Ajmer, where anomalies amounting to Rs 1.41 crore was uncovered during a special audit last year.

"The scale of fraud being unearthed in the two neighbouring panchayats and the attack on information seekers indicate rampant corruption. We demand an inquiry of the entire block," said Nikhil Dey of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS).

Tej Singh, chairperson of the social audit committee, said while water conservation work had been sanctioned for five years, only Rs 24 lakh had been shown as expenditure by the panchayat for one year and even here, the social audit team found that work worth Rs 1 lakh had actually been done. Irregularities in muster rolls, fake names, work done in places other than where sanctioned were also detected by the team.

Tej Singh also said there is discrepancy in the expenditure shown on wall painting and the actual records. While only Rs 60.19 lakh had been shown on the painting, the actual expenditure in 2009-10 was Rs 1.95 crore.

"The Todgarh audit is significant as it brought out the weaknesses of the social process that is being done by the social audit committee without any technical support or outside' intervention. When Tej Singh got up to read the findings, the additional tehsildar was signalled by the additional CEO of the zilla parishad to read the report. After that, the entire proceedings were conducted by the government officers and not the social audit team members," said Mukesh Goswami of the MKSS.

The social audit gram sabha was attended by members of the MKSS, Suchna Evum Rozgar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan and 14 IAS trainees from the IAS Academy, Mussoorie as observers.

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Orissa files 500-page response in Supreme Court over MGNREGA

2011-01-06T04:19:00.000-08:00

Orissa files 500-page response in Supreme Court over MGNREGA

The Orissa government today filed a 500-page response in the Supreme Court on the stricture made by the apex court on the alleged irregularities committed in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the state.

"We have filed a 500-page response in the Supreme Court on the status of the implementation of MGNREGA in the state. Action has been taken against around 600 errant officials in connection with the implementation of this scheme. In our response, we have also stated that the CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the scheme is not needed as the Vigilance is already probing into the matter”, Chief Secretary B K Pattnaik told media persons.

may be noted that on December 16, the Supreme Court had issued a showcause notice to the Orissa government asking as to why a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should not be ordered into the alleged diversion of funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

The bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia had directed the Chief Secretary of Orissa and additional secretary of the Union ministry of rural development to file a compliance report on the implementation of guidelines within three weeks.

The apex court had also asked them to file their response in the same affidavit about the CBI probe. The bench asked the Centre and the Orissa government to inform the extent of fund released to Orissa between 2006 and 2010. It wanted to know whether utilisation certificate for the fund was given by the Orissa government to the Centre or not.

Further, the bench asked them to inform how many people were employed under the scheme in Orissa and whether social auditing was done by the Gram Sabha or not. Additional Solicitor General, Indira Jaising said, “We want a CBI probe. We are facing resistance from the state governments. The states are supposed to convert guidelines into rules but they are not doing this”.

She informed the court that in Orissa, 11 lakh bogus cards under MGNREGA were cancelled. The court had granted six weeks to Orissa government to explain, as to why the operational guidelines of MGNREGA framed in 2008 by the Centre under Section 27 of the Act should not be made mandatory.“It is purely a question of law that the state should be ready on the next occasion to answer,” the bench said.

The apex court had favoured a Central probe into the diversion of funds and non?implementation of rural employment scheme MGNREGA in Orissa. It had said that the allegations were of serious nature as Rs 40,000 crore is being released by the Centre annually to state governments for implementation of MGNREGA.

The bench also wanted to know from the Centre what steps it intends to take on the allegations concerning Orissa.

The court was hearing a PIL filed in 2007 by an NGO- Centre for Environment and Food Security alleging large scale corruption in the MGNREGA scheme.

The court wanted a nodal agency to monitor the programme in the wake of allegations in the petition that the benefits of the scheme were not percolating down to the targeted.

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PM differs with Sonia over MGNREGA pay

2011-01-06T04:17:00.000-08:00

Jan 5 : The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, in his letter to the NAC chairperson, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, has stated that the wages given under the MGNREGA scheme are outside the ambit of the Minimum Wages Act. It may be recalled that Mrs Gandhi in a letter to the PM on November 11, 2010, had stated that the minimum wages act paid under the MGREGA should adhere to the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. Not satisfied with the PM's response, the NAC member and the member of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS), Ms Aruna Roy said that the issue needs to be discussed in the next NAC meeting.

In his reply, the Prime Minister stated that the “consensual view that emerged during consultation is that statutorily the wage rate under MGNREGA is delinked and independent of the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act , the government is committed to projecting a real wage of Rs 100 per day, personday, as announced in the budget speech of 2009.”

Mrs Gandhi in her letter while asking that MGNREGA should follow the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, stated that the PM “will take this matter into cognisance and issue necessary instruction.” However, the PM suggested that the issue be kept under “consumer index based on agricultural prices.” He wrote “It has been decided to index the wage rate notified under the MGNREGA to the consumer price index for agricultural labour...”

The PM has, however, added that rural development ministry has constituted a committee headed by Dr Pranav Sen to monitor the payment made under MGNREGA. The PM also observed that the payment made under MGREGA would also help people fight inflation. “I am confident that the mechanism would appropriately address the concern of protecting real wages of MGNREGA workers from inflation,” Dr Singh wrote.

........Major initiatives like the NREGA (1)
1 dead (1)
Assessment of MGNREGA using GIS (1)
Central team to look at NREGA in Sonbhadra (1)
demand a job under NREGA (1)
Govt urged not to link UID (1)
How NREGA failed to curb distress migration in Rajasthan (1)
Improving NREGA (1)
Jute mills in West Bengal reels under labor shortage (1)
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) (1)
Mahatma Gandhi NREGA (1)
MGNREGA Events (1)
MGNREGA History and Funding (1)
MGNREGA payment woes: bad to worse? (1)
MGNREGA provided employment to..... (1)
MgNREGA – Impact (1)
MGNREGA-II coming soon (1)
MGNREGA’s technological sabbatical (1)
MNREGA fails to curb distress migration in parts of R'than (1)
NREGA (1)
NREGA becomes MGNREGA (1)
NREGA Implementation (1)
NREGA LOGO (1)
NREGA Needs Programme Officer at Jaipur (1)
NREGA pay row sparks violence (1)
NREGA schemes check villagers’ exodus to cities (1)
NREGA(National Rural Employment Gurantee Act) (1)
Only MGNREGA (1)
Plan to link MGNREGA wages to inflation hits CP Joshi wall (1)
said T (1)
State spends Rs 4098 crore under MGNREGA till November-end (2)
Streamline NREGA implementation (1)
Supreme Court seeks govt’s response on funds utilisation of MGNREGA (1)
The latest news on MGNREGA (1)
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (1)
Use of ICT Biometrics under MGNREGA (1)
Vigilance dept. spill the beans on MGNREGA scam (1)
Welcome to MGNREGA (1)
working at a MGNREGA site (1)
www.nrega.nic.in (1)

Streamline NREGA implementation.

2011-01-03T21:04:00.000-08:00

Streamline NREGA implementation.

Jammu, Jan 3: The Assurance Committee (AC) of Legislative Assembly which met here today under the Chairmanship of MLA, M Y Tarigami has asked the Rural Development Department to further streamline the implementation of MGNREGA in the State.
The Committee observed that with implementation of the scheme in rural areas, particularly neglected areas, can empower their socio- economic status to some extent. The Committee recommended increase in employment days from 100 days to 200 in view of varied nature of development works. The Committee also suggested for amendment in present Panchayat Act for better services to the people, an official statement said.
The Committee asked the functionaries to implement the scheme in letter and spirit at gross-root level to benefit the people.
While going through the assurance given by the Government on floor of House in 2008, the Committee dropped three issues after satisfaction.
MLAs, N A Gurezi, Jugal Kishore, Charanjit Singh and Durga Dass participated. Besides, Secretary R&B, Yadullah, Director Rural Development Department Kashmir and Jammu, M.Y. Zargar and Jehangir Mir, Special Secretary RDD, G. R Wani, Additional Secretary, A.G. Sofi, Member Secretary NREGA, Dr. Syed Hanief Bakshi and other officers of RDD and Assembly Secretariat were present.

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MGNREGA provided employment to..........

2011-01-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

MGNREGA provided employment to..........

NEW DELHI: Nearing the four crore mark in providing jobs under MGNREGA , re-launching the Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas scheme and reinforcing social audit in programmes on complaints of irregularities were the foremost tasks of the rural development ministry in 2010.

While 3.9 crore households were provided employment, the share of women beneficiaries under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act went up to 51 per cent, with over 69.14 crore beneficiaries.

The MoRD's functioning witnessed a revived zest in February after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted there were some "lapses" in the flagship job guarantee scheme's implementation, including the problem of payment of wages to workers.

Even though there were reports that states like Rajasthan failed to check distress migration as minimum 100 days of employment assured under the Act was not provided to all workers, the scheme did manage to add 51 crore beneficiaries from Scheduled Castes and 23.36 crore from Scheduled Tribes.

In its maiden attempt to deliver amenities in rural areas, the MoRD re-launched the PURA scheme under a public-private partnership model with support from Department of Economic Affairs and technical assistance from Asian Development Bank .

Corporates that take up works under PURA are tasked with improving infrastructure for water and sewerage, maintenance of village streets, skill development apart from adding people-centric initiatives such as village linked tourism, integrated rural hub (market), agri-common centres and warehousing.

Instances of alleged irregularities from certain states prompted the ministry to strengthen social audit in the programmes and consider appointment of an Ombudsman for effective grievance redressal in each district.

Apart from the ministry's internal mechanism to check graft there were instances in which the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, intervened and told authorities to probe allegations ranging from alleged embezzlement of funds to diversion of money from the target population.

NREGA, MGNREGA, NREGA NEWS, NREGA, NREGA, NREGA, MGNREGA

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA

2011-01-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

*Under MGNREGA 3.9 Crore Households have been provided employment . These include 30.51 crore beneficiaries from Scheduled castes and 23.36 crore from Scheduled tribes. Share of women beneficiaries has gone up to 51% with over 69.14 crore beneficiaries. Out of the total of 55.27 lakh works taken up , 2.68 lakh works have been completed while 63.59 lakh works are in progress.

*In order to ensure effective monitoring Of MGNREGA a Professional Institutional Network (PIN) has been constituted, including IITs, IIMs, Agriculture universities and other professional institutions . The will conduct impact assessment, concurrent monitoring and appraisal, research, capacity building to identify both good practices factors that have or will limit the optimal performance of the Scheme.

More IncI*Administrative expenditure limit under MGNREGA has been enhanced from 4% to 6% with the focus on deployment of dedicated staff for MGNREGA.

Strengthe*Social Audit has been given prominence. The management and administrative support structures for social audit, grievance redressal and ICT infrastructure has been strengthened. Also, Report on the progress of MGNREGA has been made available online at www.nrega.nic.in for review.

An **Ombudsman for effective grievance redressal is being set up in each district. Ombudsman will be an agency independent of the centre or state .

• *States have been advised to set up Helplines for receipt of complaints. The toll free National Helpline 1800110707 is being ICT enabled and linked with the State and District Level Helplines to create a National Network of NREGA Helpline. Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Orissa, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands have set up state level Helplines.

*Thirty seven National level Monitor were deputed to 37 districts in 15 states for special monitoring of the social audit campaign.

• *Guidelines for convergence of MGNREGA have been developed with different Schemes and specific programs. 150 pilot districts in 23 states have been identified by the Ministry Of Environment and Forsts, ministry Of Water Resources and ICAR. For monitoring of the convergence pilots in these districts professional institutions have been being enlisted.

*Gram Panchayats while approving work plans, as per the list of permissible works under the Act, have been mandated as per the rules to ensure that works on lands of SC / ST and BPL receive first priority.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)

*The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) aims to connect by all weather roads all the habitations of population of 1000 or more in the plain areas and of 500 or more in hilly or tribal areas in a time bound manner by 2012.

*The upgradation of the existing rural road networks is also an integral part of the rural road component of the Bharat Nirman. Based on ground verification by States, 54,648 habitations were targeted to be connected under Bharat Nirman with a length of 1,46,185 km. It is also targeted to upgrade/renew 1,94,130 km roads in the rural areas.

*The New Initiatives taken under the Programme include setting up of Standards & Specifications set for Rural Roads with the help of IRC; Preparation of Manual on use of Steel Structures for PMGSY Rural Road in bridges and culverts and e-procurement under PMGSY.

*The e-procurement has already been implemented independently in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Grujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh. While Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal have implemented e-procurement with (NIC Support).

*Till 2009-10 a total of 60117.01 km road length was completed with an expenditure of nearly Rs. 18833 crores. Of the new Connectivity Target of 54648 Habitations during the 2005-12 period, the target during 2009-10 was 13000 Habitations of which road connectivity was provided to 4188 Habitations.

*During the Current financial Year till October 2010 out of the 3000 targeted habitations 1727 have been covered. So far 37839 habitations have been provided connectivity which is nearly 69% achievement. In the area of Road length in km. the total targeted length is 146185.34 km of which 112624.23 km road length has been constructed till October 2010 which is 77% achievement.

*During the current financial year of the targeted 14320 km of road length a total of 6467.08km road length has been constructed till October 2010.

*Under the Upgradation (Renewal ) component, of the targeted 194130.69 km road length a total of 214397.65 km has been upgraded in the 2005-12 period making it 110% achievement. In 2010-11 so far upto October 2010 the target and achievements are 12500 km and 16941.20 km respectively.

Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY)

*Indira Awaas Yojana is being implemented across the country (except Delhi and Chandigarh) under which financial assistance is provided as Grant-in-Aid to the rural BPL households for construction of a dwelling unit.

*The ceiling on construction assistance under the Scheme has been enhanced to Rs.45, 000/- per unit in the plain areas and Rs.48,500/- in hilly/difficult areas w.e.f. 1.4.2010. For upgradation of kutcha house, the financial assistance is Rs.15,000/- per unit. In addition, IAY houses have been included under the Different Rate of Interest (DRI) scheme for lending upto Rs.20,000 per unit at an interest rate of 4%.

*35 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts have been made eligible for a higher rate of unit assistance of Rs.48,500/- from 01/04/2010 onwards.

*Instructions have been issued to DRDAs regarding Convergence of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) with IAY. IAY beneficiaries need to get benefits available under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), Janshree and Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana and Differential Rate of Interest (DRI) Scheme etc. Moreover, a Vision Plan has been drawn up for the Rural Housing Sector.

*Under the first phase of Bharat Nirman program period, i.e. from 2005-06 to 2008-09, 60 lakh houses were envisaged to be constructed. As against this target, 71.76 lakh houses were constructed thereby exceeding the target of Bharat Nirman.

*It is now proposed to double the target of Phase I Bharat Nirman and to construct 120 lakh houses during the next five years period of Phase II Bharat Nirman starting from the current year 2009-10.

*During 2010-11 out of a Central Allocation of Rs. 10053.70 crore , Rs. 4070.98 crore has been utilised and of the targeted 29.09 lakh houses 9.04 lakh houses have been constructed till September 2010 (i.e. 2nd Quarter).

Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)

SGSY is being re-christened as National Rural Livelihood Mission (NLRM). Under it the scheme will be made universal, more focussed and time bound for poverty alleviation by 2014.Accordingly, a target has been fixed to enrol 50% cent of rural women in self-help groups over the next five years.

*Universal social mobilisation through formation of SHGs under NRLM: During two remaining years of 11th Plan it is proposed to form about 10 lakh new SHGs. All existing SHGs will be strengthened. Universal financial inclusion will be addressed by enabling SHGs to be linked to banks and to access credit from them.

*During 2010-11 it is proposed to provide basic orientation training to all the swarozgaris. Skill training will be provided to the swarozgaris who are entering micro enterprise level.

*The Ministry will provide one time grant for construction of Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) @ Rs 1.0 crore per RSETI while the land would be provided by the State Governments.

*In order to meet the requirement of consumption and income generation activities, it is proposed to raise the amount of revolving fund to Rs 15000 per SHG.

*It is proposed to provide subsidy of Rs 15,000 to individual Swarozgaries of general category and Rs 20,000 to SC/ST and people with disabilities. For SHGs, subsidy will be Rs. 20,000 per capita subject to a maximum of Rs 2.50 lakh, whichever is less. Under NRLM it is proposed to provide upto Rs. 7500 per beneficiary for capacity building & training.

*Under NRLM, interest subsidy will be provided to SHGs for prompt repayment of loans to banks. The difference between 7% and Prime Lending Rates (PLR), will be provided to the poor households for every loan accessed from the banks, up to a limit of Rs 1 lakh per household. It is proposed to provide professional support at all levels – National level, State level, district level to Sub district level in different specializations.

*For skill upgradation and placement, at present there is a provision of 15% of the SGSY allocation for special projects. It is now proposed to make these special projects as a subset of NRLM and earmarking 20% of allocation for special projects. Out of this 15% will be for placement linked skill development projects and 5% for innovative projects.

*NRLM will put in place a (i) a comprehensive MIS encompassing database of SHG profiles, federations, training institutions and activities, placements of trained beneficiaries, marketing of products etc., (ii), concurrent and mid-term evaluations, (iii) social accountability practices like social audits etc. to facilitate monitoring & bring in transparency in program implementation.

*During 2009-10 a total of 2085177 Swarozgaries were assisted as against the target of 1822482. *Out of the total allocation of Rs.. 2051.54 crore, the total Credit distributed during this period was Rs. 4447. 02 crore.

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP

*Under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) An amount of Rs. 515549.72 lakh have been released in 200-10 of which Rs. 456376.6 lakh have been utilized benefitting 18462000 persons.

National Rural Drinking Water Supply Program (NRDWP)

*The program is aimed at providing safe drinking water to all households in rural areas, while ensuring convergence with related programs and involvement of the Panchayati Raj Institutions. In order to achieve drinking water security at village/habitation level, conjunctive use of water i.e. judicious use of rainwater, surface water and ground water is promoted.

*Based on the feedback received from States, 2.49 lakh wells have been drilled in 6 states and achieved more than 90% of success rate, on average. Similarly, 12,528 recharge structures have been planned of which, 9,057 nos. have been constructed which have significantly improved the sustainability of drinking water sources

*Under the NRDWP 17200 habitations have been covered so far.

*20 institutions/ organizations having domain knowledge and expertise in the drinking water sector have been identified as National Key Resource Centres (KRCs). The national KRCs will be responsible for training, orientation and capacity development at all levels.

*IEC guidelines have been formulated and sent to States to help them to take up IEC activities with stakeholders.

*In order to promote research and development in the area of rural drinking water supply and sanitation, the Department has tied up with premier research institutes, universities, colleges and NGOs.

* Ground Water Prospect (HGM) maps are being developed to arrive at-Prospective ground water zones, Prioritization of areas of planning recharge structures; Tentative sites for taking up recharge structures to improve the sustainability of drinking water sources in the problematic habitations and Creation of a digital database.

*During 2010-11 the Allocation for the program was Rs. 8460 crore out of which Rs. 1207.55 crore have been utilised so far. .

*Under the Jalmani Program there were 493760 Rural Schools in the country of which 493760 Rural schools need Stand Alone System. All of them have been covered till August 2010 this year.

Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC)

*Under the Total Sanitation Campaign , cash incentive of Rs. 1500/- is given for construction of Individual household latrines: (Rs. 2000/- in case of hilly and difficult areas) . For BPL Households Rs. 700/- for each toilet is given by Central and State Government respectively after they construct and use toilets. APL households are motivated to construct toilets with their own funds or by taking loans from SHGs, banks, cooperative institutions etc.

*Assistance is also provided for the provision of Toilets in Schools and Anganwadis with the cost sharing by Central and State Government in the ratio of 70:30.

*The financial assistance for School Toilet block has been increased from Rs. 20000/to Rs.35000/-(`Rs.38500/-for Hilly and Difficult Areas); while the funding for Anganwadi Toilet has been increased from Rs. 5000/- to Rs. Rs.8000/-(10000/-) for Hilly and Difficult Areas).

*During 2010-11 upto July 2010 a Total of 2934672 Individual Household Latrines were constructed including 1546271 BPL category. 25232 School Toilets; 872 Sanitary Complexes and 10701 Aanganwadi toilets.

*The Central Release during 2010-11 stood at Rs. 66205.27lakh while the total release (including state release) was Rs. 76468.07lakh. The Total Expenditure was Rs. 36997.20 lakh .

Integrated Watershed Management Program (IWMP)

*The M/o Rural Development has constituted Steering Committies at National Level under the Chairmanship of of Secretary (LR) with members from Planning Commission, NRAA/ related Ministries/ Departments/ organizations including NGOs to administer the IWMP while at State, District and Block Level there are Nodal Agencies to cater the Watershed Projects in the areas of Soil & moisture conservation measures.

*For 2010-11, an amount of Rs.2458 crores has been allocated by the Planning Commission for implementation of IWMP projects and meeting the liabilities of ongoing projects of DPAP, DDP & IWDP. 5250 ongoing projects of DPAP, DDP & IWDP covering an area of 3.75 m.ha. are likely to be completed.

*During 2010-11 (as on 09.8.2010) 249 projects covering an area of 14.13 lakh ha. have been sanctioned by SLNAs and central funds of Rs. 206.15 crores have been released. In addition, an amount of Rs.686.65 crores have been released to IWMP projects sanctioned during 2009-10.

Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA)

The initiative taken by the Ministry of Rural Development to kick start the Public-Private Partnership in rural infrastructure development under the Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) scheme received enthusiastic response from the leading houses in the Corporate Sector. The scheme envisages twinning of rural infrastructure development and management with economic re-generation activities. It is the first attempt at delivering a basket of infrastructure and amenities through PPP in the rural areas. It is expected that a scheme like e shall maximize socio-economic impact and minimum development obligations by the private developer will enable improved quality of service delivery in the Panchayat area.

The New initiatives under the different programs of the Ministry Of Rural Development are directed at reaching out to the last mile , meeting the local demands of the rural people and pave the way for an inclusive growth in the countryside.

Latest news about nrega, nrega comments, nrega news photos, nrega news stills and nrega videos.,Get all the latest news, stories and web pages tagged with NREGA on Zee News,Get Latest NREGA photos, Watch NREGA videos, Pics, Images,,Pictures, Video Clips, NREGA Wallpapers,The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee,Act (MGNREGA) is an Indian job guarantee scheme, National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (NREGA)

Central team to look at NREGA in Sonbhadra

2010-12-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

A two-member Central team will be in Sonbhadra from January 4 to January 7 to look into the complaints of anomalies in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

The team will be headed by GS Sharma, consultant, MGNREGS, Ministry of Rural Development and will have NK Yadav, a national-level monitor for the ministry.

“We have been asked to look into the implementation of MGNREGA in Sonbhadra and will be visiting the place next week,h said Sharma. gThe nature of anomalies, if any, will be clear once we reach and we will submit out report directly to the Union Ministry.”

Officials in the state Rural Development department said a committee was formed by the government about six months ago to probe similar complaints. Headed by retired IAS officer Vinod Shankar Chaubey, it was to look into the exceptionally high expenditure — about Rs 250 crore — in the district along with complaints that no work was done at several places though money was spent.

Officials said Chaubey had made some interesting observations about the workings of government machinery in the district. The committee had submitted the report about two months ago, but no action has been taken on its recommendations.

Latest news about nrega, nrega comments, nrega news photos, nrega news stills and nrega videos.,Get all the latest news, stories and web pages tagged with NREGA on Zee News,Get Latest NREGA photos, Watch NREGA videos, Pics, Images,,Pictures, Video Clips, NREGA Wallpapers,The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee,Act (MGNREGA) is an Indian job guarantee scheme, National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (NREGA)

Improving NREGA

2010-12-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has been hailed as a landmark initiative to alleviate poverty and generate productive wage employment, even if for only 100 days, for unskilled rural labour. Given its historic features, it is a pity that the rollout of the programme in many states has been less than satisfactory, and leakage of funds has become rampant. More worryingly, it has begun to have an adverse impact on rural labour markets and the wage structure. Mindful of the impact of NREGA on farm wages, the Union rural development ministry had specified a cap of Rs 100 per day. This had predictably evoked protests from labour activists for being lower than the mandatory minimum wages in many states. Interestingly, these critics now have the backing of the National Advisory Council (NAC) which wants NREGA wage rates to be linked with minimum wages. However, the rural development ministry’s reluctance to concede this plea is understandable because the purpose of fixing the NREGA wage below even the minimum wage was to make the programme self-targeting. That is, only the really needy would offer themselves for work. Moreover, the idea of a national minimum wage is faulty in a diverse economy like India’s. State governments ought to have the freedom to also shape a statutorily defined minimum wage.

The harsh truth that is often lost sight of is that the mandated minimum wage does not have much sanctity in rural areas where the actual wages are determined by demand-supply equilibrium which varies with cropping season. Aligning wages under NREGA with minimum wages would distort the rural labour market further. Besides, it would pose difficulties for the Centre to strike a balance in allocating NREGA funds to different states. A better bet would, perhaps, be to fix a reasonable central wage rate and let the state governments augment it from their own resources if they so wish. This apart, the guaranteed employment under NREGA has restrained the usual seasonal labour migration, which had become the mainstay of farming in agriculturally progressive, but labour-starved, states. This has caused acute shortage of labour for agriculture. Particularly hit are plantations in the southern states, notably Kerala, and the cultivation of labour-intensive crops like rice, wheat and sugarcane. The farmers are forced to incur additional expenses for using machines and energy for doing farm operations which were earlier performed manually by migratory labour at far lower costs. Sales of tractors and crop sowing and harvesting machines are reported to have risen sharply as a result. Farmers’ organisations have come out with a sensible suggestion that the mandatory 100 days employment in a year should be provided only during agriculturally lean seasons. This will be a win-win situation for both farmers and farm labour. While the farmers will get labour when they need it the most, the labourers will be able to remain employed for a longer period in a year.

MGNREGA payment woes: bad to worse?

2010-12-30T02:15:00.000-08:00

MGNREGA payment woes: bad to worse?

17 July 2010 - “Apply for work, get work, and get paid on time”. This is how the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) took off in February 2006. Various instruments like muster rolls and job cards were designed to keep the payment process transparent. However, it was soon realised that a good chunk of money was being siphoned off by officials and implementers.

Consequently, in a circular dated 21 January 2008, Ministry of Rural Development instructed the state governments that “opening of bank and post office accounts of all the NREGA beneficiaries must be done before April 1, 2008”. The Government’s primary concern was to rule out the possibility of officials/implementers/middlemen ‘taking a cut’ while disbursing the wages. All the states have officially adopted in the new system barring probably Tamil Nadu.

Papatu Devi and Koshila Devi of Chhatrapur block of Palamu district in Jharkhand are still waiting for the wages for the work they did four months ago. Pic: Pradeep Baisakh.

However, subsequent surveys in Odisha (2007) and Jharkhand (2008), and observations from many other states like West Bengal highlight delay in delivery of wages as the most frustrating reason for people to lose faith in the scheme. By April 25, 2010, there was delay in delivering wages amounting to Rs 1,355 crores (www.nrega.nic.in), of which, about Rs 136 crores were paid after 90 days of delay, Rs 156 crores in between 60-90 days, Rs 466 crores between 30-60 days, and Rs 596 crores between 15-30 days of delay.

The total wage payment (unskilled) made during 2009-10 was about Rs 25,000 crores. Consequently, 54 percent of the wages did not reach the labour force on time, i.e., 15 days. That delayed wages is an issue too conspicuous to go amiss was further substantiated with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi admitting it just as much.

Loopholes in the new system

The system works differently across states. In Rajasthan and Jharkhand, though the system of institutional payment has been put in place at least at the policy level, delays have been reported nevertheless. “In Chhattisgarh, it takes between one-and-a-half to two months to process payments,” says Gangaram Paikrai, a social activist.

In case of banks, although the process moves a bit faster, distance between villages and banks poses bottlenecks and exposes the system to many kinds of manipulation. For instance, the Utkal Gramya Bank (UGB) branch office is 15 km away from the Badabanki GP headquarters. Unaware of the bank transactions and schedules, villagers seek help from middlemen, mostly contractors, and pay for it. Frauds of this nature have come to light in Odisha and Jharkhand. Even in cases where the role of middlemen is limited, lack of knowledge about banking and overworked bank staff force the villagers to visit the banks at least 2-3 times to get what is rightfully theirs. This has been observed in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Jharkhand.

During a social audit conducted by the G B Pant Institute in Karon block of Deogarh in Odisha in October-November 2007 and in Jharkhand in November 2008, it was found out that the implementers resorted to corrupt ways to fleece villagers: forged signatures of the beneficiaries to withdraw money; contractors/middlemen accompanied the villagers to the bank while withdrawing the money and took a cut out of it. Another way of swindling was by obtaining the account-holders’ signatures on withdrawal forms on one pretext or the other and then withdrawing money without the knowledge of the latter.

Discussion with authorities in Badbanki GP, Tureikala block of Balangir district of Odisha, revealed that payment through POs takes about 26-30 days; of which, postal processing itself takes about 15-20 days as the cheque has to pass through the district PO and the sub-divisional PO before it is disbursed to labourers by the local PO. People, however, claim that they received wages though POs more than two months after the completion of one phase of work spread over 14 days.

People cannot escape corruption in POs either. Jawahar Mehta, a Jharkhand-based social activist, says, “In Garhwa district, people complained that they had to give the postmaster 2% of their earnings while withdrawing wages from the local branch.”

Gangaram Paikrai from Chhattisgarh says, "Post offices are often run by only one official. Naturally, it becomes very difficult to cope up with the task of payment under the MGNREGA.”

Old system vs. the new

Some studies suggest that the level of corruption in wage payment has gone down ever since the government started routing the funds through POs and banks. In their article “NREGA Wage Payments: Can We Bank on the Banks?”, Anindita Adhikari, Kartika Bhatia write drawing facts from their survey in Karchana and Shankargarh blocks in Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh and Mander and Angara blocks of Ranchi district of Jharkhand that 76% of the sampled workers confirmed the accuracy of the bank records. This, by any standards, is a fair delivery of wages.

But somewhere down the line, the very intent of MGNREGA is getting defeated. Each new mode of payment comes with its own inherent drawbacks. For instance, in the previous cash payment system, muster rolls and job cards were necessary documents to monitor payments and they were easily accessed by the poor labourers. Similarly, the open system of payment by ‘roll call' of labourers was monitored by the community as was experimented in the Dungarpur (before the NREGA came into effect) and other areas of Rajasthan where Mazdoor Kishan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) was at work.

Conversely, in the new system, documents are not easily accessible even by activists, let alone villagers in remote areas. It therefore weakens the community monitoring of wage payment of the scheme. The new system has rendered job cards meaningless and social audits, tedious. For instance, in Jharkhand, labourers come to know about the amount paid for the work done only when they receive the money from POs. In such cases, any underestimation of their work by junior engineers results in underpayment and the workers cannot even complain about it. Moreover, accounts are opened in the name of family heads which happen to be men, thus robbing a vast majority of the women workforce of its right over hard-earned money.

Another unsolved issue is making these payment institutions accountable under the MGNREGA as they are guided by their own set of rules. Measures to ensure transparency may be a part of the government’s policy-making exercise; but when it comes to ground reality, it is hard to imagine that these institutions would deliver goods keeping the exigencies of the poor in mind.

Development economist Prof Jean Dreze attributes the delay to the apathy of the implementing officials who take less interest in the timely processing of payments since the new system does not allow for deducting cuts. Apart from this, delay is also caused by the internal processing of payment institutions. This inherent delay occurs as the system is not developed for quick delivery in many states. Overworked and often indifferent bank and PO staffers add to the woes.

Binay Sahu, a grassroots activist in Sundargarh district of Odisha, says, “It has become very difficult to monitor the system and to ascertain at what stage the matters are stuck.”

Local problems need local solutions

The wage payment monitoring system worked quite well in Andhra Pradesh as the state had designed its own mechanisms, not something imposed from New Delhi, to check corruption. Rajasthan, for example, was also performing fairly well in timely payment of wages and corruption was comparatively low.

In an interface with CSOs at a training programme a year ago, former NRGEA Commissioner Manju Rajpal had said: “we were not in favour of introduction of the bank and post office payment system in NREGA as the direct cash payment system was working well with us. But the Centre made the new system mandatory leaving us no option but adopt it.”

Currently, in states like Rajasthan where the system is performing well in overall implementation of the scheme, delayed payment is not uncommon. Richa of Janchetna Sansthan, Rajasthan, says, “Though the government has already developed the system for proper functioning of wage payment through banks and post offices, it is delayed by two or three months in several cases as the officials pass the buck from one institution to the other.”

The victims’ version

In their article in EPW, Anindita Adhikari and Kartika Bhatia write that about 77% people preferred banks to POs. On the contrary, Tulsa Dharua of Tara village, Belpara block of Balangir district of Odisha, has a different tale to narrate. She has witnessed a starvation death recently and her villagers’ migration to Hyderabad for work. “No matter how we get the payment, if we get our wages in seven days, why would so many people migrate?”

Abhimanyu Dharua of Chhuinara village in Balangir district of Odisha says, “The bank payment system is good as the money is not siphoned off. But timely wage payment is very important. In our village, a pond renovation work under MGNREGA was discontinued because of delayed payments. The workers eventually migrated as they did not receive payment on time and the work was stopped. Now I am jobless. When there is no job, where is the scope for corruption?”

Papatu Devi and Koshila Devi from Chhatarpur block of Palamu district in Jharkhand, who have not received payment for their work for the last four months, expressed similar helplessness. Now, people in their village are jobless and the work has been stopped.

In Badbanki GP of Balangir district, 17 families have completed 100 days of employment in the last financial year despite delayed payment. Further inquiry revealed that these families own land and hence can live even without MGNREGA. The work under the scheme comes as an additional source of income for such families. But in the same GP, the poorest lot has migrated as they need immediate payment for their work.

Effects of delayed payment

Loss of trust in the Act is the first casualty. Jawahar Mehta of Vikash Sahayog Kendra, Jharkhand, recounts the situation before a year in Latehar and Khunti districts of Jharkhand, where things had almost come to a standstill due to delayed payment. Neither the administration nor the people took any interest in continuing work under the scheme. “It was only after the intervention by Prof Jean Dreze through his ‘Sahayata Kendras’ did things start moving,” says Mehta.

Abhimanyu Dharua of Balangir district of Odisha is now jobless as all the work under the MGNREGA has been stopped in his village due to delayed payment. Pic: Pradeep Baisakh.

People in the undivided Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput area (KBK region) of Odisha, one of the most backward regions of the country, have resorted to migration as the MGNREGA has almost failed to check distress migration in this region -- initially due to non-availability of work and now, delayed payment.

Contrary to official figures, the MGNREGA is a failed scheme for the needy in Odisha. About 1.5 lakh people from Balangir district alone have migrated this season in search of work. Distress migration figures in the KBK region is somewhere between 8 to 10 lakhs. Starvation deaths in Odisha are going unchecked. In remote areas of Jharkhand, death of women during pregnancy is a cause for concern mainly due to malnourishment and anaemia.

On the other hand, many feel that if loopholes are plugged and strict monitoring measures are followed, cash payment system can work well. Tamilnadu is a case in point. (See ‘Slow but steady success’ by Reetika Khera and Karuna Muthiah in The Hindu on 25 April 2010).

Checking corruption may be a priority for activists, media and the government. But for the poor labourers, ‘aajiki mazdoori, aazka bhoogdaan’ (today’s work and today’s payment) is what counts most. One cannot expect a poor person to fight corruption on an empty stomach. Therefore, the agenda of fighting corruption should follow assurance of regular work and timely payment.

An opportunity to fight feudalism missed?

The MGNREGA was expected to make inroads into the democratic control of design and execution of the government welfare programmes in rural India. By transparent mechanisms like muster roll maintenance and cash disbursement in full public view, designs of community control like choosing work and conducting social audits by gram sabhas had discouraged corruption and also exposed embezzlement by the local elite who controlled local matters. The poorest lot -- labourers, landless, and small and marginal farmers, the potential beneficiaries of MGNREGA -- had even started challenging feudal domination. Maybe, had this trend continued, it could have possibly led to greater social transformation through gradual decimation of feudal dominance.

So long as the cash payment of wages was in place, despite its limitations, it was within the grasp of the common lot and hence, under their control. In such a system, the victims might have not had the courage to question the local elite like sarpanchs, contractors, or the panchayat staff. But in the long run, they could not have tolerated their hard-earned money being bungled up by others.

Though less prone to corruption, the institutional wage payment system cannot be monitored by common people. Thus a noble objective of the MGNREGA lay nullified. It has to be mentioned that corruption in the MGNREGA exposed by social audits was perhaps as bad as it was in other schemes. The only difference was that the strong transparency mechanisms of the Act laid it bare. In all fairness, the government should have persisted with the cash payment of wages and waited for it to show its effectiveness. Unfortunately, it was aborted half way in favour of a system, which, though partially addressed one problem, has given rise to several others.

Poor on the periphery

At policy level, the scenario of delayed payment has improved in states like Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Odisha, etc. These measures have alleviated the problem to a certain extent, though way below expectations. When certain shortcomings of this mode of payment came to the fore, a new system of mobile bank payment through biometric smart card is being experimented in some districts. Though initial observations show good results, only time can tell its real impact.

The concern is: the more the system becomes complicated in vital components like wage payment, the more it drifts away from the common people's understanding. In such cases, the government, social activists, and the media occupy the centre-stage and debate and discuss to sort out the issues. Ironically, the poor stand on the periphery as they have little say on matters that affect them the most.

This is not what the original rozgaar guarantee law envisioned. Just like other welfare schemes which are mostly government-driven, the MGNREGA may end up becoming an activists- or media-driven programme. ⊕

Pradeep Baisakh
17 Jul 2010

MGNREGA Events

2010-12-30T02:14:00.000-08:00

MGNREGA Events

A day long seminar on 'Leveraging NREGA for Sustainable Development through Inter-sectoral Convergence' was held on May 6th, 2009 at Hall No.5, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

The following sessions were conducted:

Session I

NREGS and Sustainable Agriculture: Andhra Pradesh (K. Raju)
NREGA-Water Resource Department Convergence Initiatives in Madhya Pradesh
NREGS and Forestry: The Kerala Experience (V.N. Jithendran)
Special plantation drive in Bundelkhand (Anurag)
PRADAN's Experience in NREGA
Presentation on NREGS Convergence: Govt. of Chhattisgarh

Session II

NREGA and Agroforestry to address Climate Change ( V. P. Singh)

Session III

NREGA Act (Rita Sharma)
Agricultural Development through convergence with NREGA – The A.P. Case (Hemnath Rao)
Convergence Possibilities Unlimited (Shikhar)

NREGA becomes MGNREGA

2010-12-30T02:13:00.001-08:00

NREGA becomes MGNREGA

our years after it was introduced, the government has decided to rename its flagship rural employment programme after Mahatma Gandhi.

PM Manmohan Singh announced on Friday that the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) would now be called Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Act. A government scheme is being named after the Mahatma after a long time.

The government was earlier planning to name the scheme after one of the Nehru-Gandhi family members, initial inputs suggested. But that decision was changed. “NREGA has been aptly named after the Father of the Nation as he had always held the concept of Gram Swaraj in high esteem,” said the PM during a celebration on the 50 years of Panchayati Raj in India.

This decisionis not without political consideration since many non-Congress ruling states were trying to take credit for the scheme because of its outreach and the huge funds allotted to it.

demand a job under NREGA

2010-12-29T22:08:00.000-08:00

New Delhi: The Unique Identification Project or the UID is in progress in full swing to provide an official identification to millions of Indians. CNN-IBN finds out the impact the project has at the grassroots.Kartik Burman, a 46 years old rag picker from Bengal - living near Nizamuddin in Delhi for the past 10 years - is being enrolled for the UID project. So, when he would go out to demand a job under NREGA or get a ration card, he won't have a problem. The likes of Kartik Burman too are hoping for a better deal in life."It will help, I can get a job and I can get a ration card," said Mukhtar Ahmed a homeless.

But there are others who have no idea how the card will help them.

"I dont know what this means, I will understand only if someone explains it to me," said Sant Ram a tailor.

The UID number is allotted two weeks after enrollment. A bank account is opened and the card holder is officially identified as a resident of India. But are there privacy and security concerns?

"The benefit for a few hundred million poor people of India who don't have an identity, who don't get benefits. Giving them this is more important than the risk. And we must ensure that the risks are completely mitigated," said Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, UID Project.

The benefits are already being felt by the likes of daily wage labourer Ram Babu, who finally has a cellphone thanks to his UID. "Before I had no identification, so I how could I get a number, now I have it thanks to this," he said.

The ambitious Rs 3,000-crore UID project starts becoming a reality in small pockets where the poorest of the poor are being identified. Its estimated that by 2014, 600 million Indian residents will have UID numbers.

Even beggars like Hari Singh, who lives on the railway tracks under Delhi's Okhla flyover, have hope that life could get better - thanks to a few digits.

As the project goes digging through the narrow gallies of India, its seems to be a start in the right direction. The only hope is that this ambitious project doesn't turn into a series of empty promises for India's poor.

nrega news. mgnrega

Supreme Court seeks govt’s response on funds utilisation of MGNREGA

2010-12-28T21:12:00.000-08:00

Supreme Court seeks govt’s response on funds utilisation of MGNREGA

The Supreme Court today sought response from the Centre and the Orissa government as to why the probe into the alleged irregularities in utilisation of funds for implementation of MGNREGA scheme not be handed over to the CBI.

“Why not a direction be given to CBI to investigate the matter in accordance with law,” a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said.

The bench directed the chief secretary of Orissa and additional secretary of the Union Rural Development Ministry to file a compliance report on the implementation of the guidelines within three weeks.

The court also asked them to file their response in the same affidavit about the CBI probe.

Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising said, “We want a CBI probe. Our request has gone to the CBI.”

She said that the state governments are reluctant to implement the guidelines.

“We are facing resistance from the state governments.

States are supposed to convert guidelines into rules but they are not doing this,” she said.

The bench asked the Centre and the Orissa government to inform the extent of fund released to Orissa between 2006 and 2010.

It also wanted to know whether utilisation certificate for the fund was given by the Orissa government to the Centre or not.

Further, the bench asked them to inform how many people were employed under the scheme in Orissa and whether social auditing was done by the Gram Sabha or not.

The ASG informed that in Orissa 11 lakhs bogus cards were cancelled.

Meanwhile, the court granted six weeks to Orissa government to explain, “Why the operational guidelines of MGNREGA framed in 2008 by the Centre under section 27 of the act should not be made mandatory.”

“It is purely a question of law that the state should be ready on the next occasion to answer,” the bench said.

The apex court had earlier favoured a Central probe into the diversion of funds and non—implementation of rural employment scheme MGNREGA in Orissa.

It had said that the allegations were of serious nature on diversion of funds and non—implementation of MGNREGA in which Rs 40,000 crore was being released by the Centre annually to state governments.

The bench also wanted to know from the Centre the steps it intends to take on the allegations concerning Orissa.

The court was hearing a PIL filed in 2007 by an NGO Centre for Environment and Food Security alleging large—scale corruption in the implementation of the MGNREGA scheme.

Based on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in 2005, the scheme provides for legally—guaranteed 100 days of employment to at least one member of each rural household.

In October 2009, it was renamed as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

The court wanted a nodal agency to monitor the programme in the wake of allegations in the petition that the benefits of the scheme were not percolating down to the targeted beneficiaries.

The court had said that there was a need for the nodal agency at the Centre to ensure that the guidelines for implementation of the scheme are not given a go—bye.

The apex court had also observed that the funds meant for the scheme were not reaching the intended beneficiaries.

It had said several projects under the scheme are failing as the funds allocated for them either remain unutilised or in many cases the money ends up in the wrong hands.

The petition had pointed out that while some states in the north—east and Andhra Pradesh have done a good job in implementing the rural employment scheme, the others are far behind.

Vigilance dept. spill the beans on MGNREGA scam

2010-12-28T21:10:00.000-08:00

Vigilance dept. spill the beans on MGNREGA scam

Bhubaneswar: The State Anti-corruption department on Tuesday blew the lid off the MGNREGA scam with D.G. Vigilance Anup Pattnaik’s admission to the fact that there have been severe financial irregularities in the Centre-funded scheme.

An inquiry conducted by the department from 2006 till October 2007 revealed gross misappropriation of funds allocated under the scheme. Inquiry reports have further added that officials from high rank to sarpanch were involved in the multi-crore scam.

“There have been gross irregularities in the scam. They have executed works through contractors which is detrimental to the scheme. We have informed the government about this,” DG Vigilance Anup Pattnaik said.

The Vigilance sleuths have also registered 33 cases and have filed 21 charge-sheets in this regard. This apart, the department has booked eight criminal cases on charges of accepting bribes and sent 10 such cases for departmental inquiry. The anti-corruption department has also forwarded the report to the State Panchayatiraj Department.

As per reports, the vigilance sleuths have unearthed massive corruption in the implementation of the MGNREGA scheme that includes providing people with job cards, asking the beneficiaries for bribes during the sanction of cheques and cash.

The department has also pointed towards the involvement of the DRDA project directors, junior engineers, assistant engineers and sarpanchs in the diversion of funds.

This apart, the officials have also unearthed information about not following the instructions of the scheme and using machines instead of manpower and irregularities in maintaining government records.

Meanwhile, the Centre has urged to hold discussions with the state. “The Centre has also expressed its interests to have discussions with us. We will also discuss the matter with the Centre before filing the affidavit in the Supreme Court,” Panchayatiraj Minister Prafulla Samal said.

However, the state government is expected to file the affidavit by January 6 next year.

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2010-12-27T20:33:00.000-08:00

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2010-12-27T20:32:00.000-08:00

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days

District / Block Administrator. Programme Officer · District Programme

Reports From MIS. Reports from MIS for financial year 2010-2011 · Reports

Plan panel moots "National Authority for MNREGA" to curb graft. The Hindu. 13-Jan-2010. Rajasthan Speaker floored by NREGA, RTI in A.P.. The Hindu. 16-Sep-2009.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) is an Indian job guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on August 25, 2005. ...

the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing ...

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2010-12-27T20:27:00.000-08:00

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The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days

District / Block Administrator. Programme Officer · District Programme

Reports From MIS. Reports from MIS for financial year 2010-2011 · Reports

Plan panel moots "National Authority for MNREGA" to curb graft. The Hindu. 13-Jan-2010. Rajasthan Speaker floored by NREGA, RTI in A.P.. The Hindu. 16-Sep-2009.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) is an Indian job guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on August 25, 2005. ...

the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing ...

21 Jun 2009 ... The NREGA, the flagship programme of the UPA government, was revolutionary in its promise of inclusive growth, the right to work and the

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The latest news on NREGA, from thousands of sources worldwide. High-quality photos, articles, blog posts, quotes, and more

NREGA: Rural India sees a silent revolution, The Act became operational in February 2006, starting with 200 districts

NREGA. Guidelines for effective implementation of NREGA. Nrega Awareness. * Hoardings. * Posters & Pamphlets. * Slogans in local dialect

National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (NREGA). The Parliament enacted an Act No. 42 of 2005 called the National Rural Employment. Guarantee Act.

Project : Use of ICT & Biometrics under MGNREGA. Clarification on the Online submission of proposals. More... Financial Proposal Online

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing ...

........Major initiatives like the NREGA

2010-12-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

........Major initiatives like the NREGA

The Centre is planning to increase the spending on social activities with a rise in government revenue, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here today.

“With rise in government revenues we will increase it further,” he said at the inauguration of a Union Bank branch in the Murshidabad district.

The government is keeping aside a major portion of the budget for social activities and this share is going up from Rs. 2.43 lakh crore last year to Rs. 3.25 lakh crore during current fiscal, he said.

The government’s spending has increased in its major initiatives like the NREGA, Right to Education, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, etc.

Mr. Mukherjee said the government’s income will increase once business and industry flourish and more employment is generated through such schemes.

The govt has targeted to include unbanked 73,000 villages into banking services by 2012, he said.

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2010-12-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

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Plan to link NREGA wages to inflation hits CP Joshi wall

2010-12-27T20:11:00.000-08:00

Plan to link MGNREGA wages to inflation hits CP Joshi wall

Rural Development Minister CP Joshi has refused to move on a proposal by the Planning Commission to link wages under the national job guarantee scheme to the consumer price index. In fact, the Plan panel’s proposal was echoed by the National Advisory Council chaired by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.In a presentation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently, the Planning Commission made a strong case for aligning the wage levels to rising prices as reflected in the CPI. This would have also forced certain states to hike the wages in tandem with the increasing CPI such that real wages did not erode for such workers. Deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia pitched for this mechanism arguing that it was essential to insulate daily wage-earners from the inflationary pressures.“To me, there is a need to link NREGA wages with the rise in Consumer Price Index. There is a growing feeling that the wages need to be inflation-indexed,” he said recently in conversation with select journalists.The country’s food inflation reached double-digit levels to 12.13 per cent for the week ended December 11 — the highest in six weeks, due to a steady rise in prices of vegetables particularly onions.In its Mid Term Appraisal of the 11th Five Year Plan, the Plan panel reiterated the government’s commitment provide Rs 100 as daily real wage to every NREGA worker. This found mention in this year’s Budget and was part of the Congress election manifesto. But no concrete mechanism has been taken by the Rural Development Ministry on this issue so far. Though Ahluwalia refused to elaborate, Plan panel member Mihir Shah said, while the ministry was concerned about a competitive rise in wages under NREGA by different states, the Centre was bound to fulfill its commitment of providing a real wage of Rs 100. “Indexing wages to inflation is the least we can do to relieve the distress of the poorest people of our country at a time of soaring food prices. If the problem is of finding a suitable index, then we can either use the CPI for agricultural labourers as suggested in the MTA of the 11th Plan or we can use the revised index based on 2004-05 prices,” he told The Indian Express. Shah said that if the Centre could give dearness allowance to its employees to offset the rise in prices, why shouldn’t the same mechanism be applicable to NREGA wage-earners.“The Schedule of Rates (SoRs) also need to be indexed to the wage level, so that each rise in inflation-indexed wages is accompanied by an automatic adjustment in the SoRs,” the Plan panel said in the MTA. The Planning Commission has been waiting for the ministry’s response on the issue before in house deliberations can be initiated. There was a growing feeling among a section of the Congress leadership that electoral gains accrued to the party in the last general polls should now be consolidated. Dithering further on the matter would imply giving ready ammunition to the opposition, some in the Plan panel fear. According to the Commission, so far, 3.26 crore households have secured employment under the scheme.

Latest news about nrega, nrega comments, nrega news photos, nrega news stills and nrega videos.,Get all the latest news, stories and web pages tagged with NREGA on Zee News,Get Latest NREGA photos, Watch NREGA videos, Pics, Images,,Pictures, Video Clips, NREGA Wallpapers,The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee,Act (MGNREGA) is an Indian job guarantee scheme, National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (NREGA)