Maintaining that MG NREGA has acted as a tool for accelerating the development of rural and far flung areas besides providing employment opportunities and stopping the distress migration, the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats, Ali Mohammad Sagar said that the new initiative of convergence of the scheme with other activities would go a long way in ensuring in its successful implementation and socio-economic transformation of the State.The Minister was speaking at MG NREGA Sammelan organized to commemorate the 8th year of the launching of the scheme at New Delhi today, attended by the Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, Jairam Ramesh and Rural Development Ministers of different States.Sagar said that the scheme has become a household name in the country side and the timely amendments in the Act on the operational guidelines based on the inputs from the field, is a healthy step, which synchronizes the implementation of this Act with the realities at the ground level. He said that the scheme has to a great extent acted as a tool to curb unemployment, disguised employment and provided employment opportunity at the doorsteps besides removing the regional disparities in the socio-economic development.
While calling for the increase in the wage rate from the existing one- to Rs. 150/-, the Minister pleaded the Union Government to come to the rescue of the State by enhancing the wage rate under MG NREGA in the State. He said that the issue of including the snow clearance as a permissible activity under the scheme may also be extended to the State as it shall be of a great help in providing employment opportunities during the winter months.
Sagar also asked for involving the job holders in other programmes and schemes of different departments maintaining that it would expand the opportunity of unskilled employment outside the domain of MG NREGA. This will definitely widen the scope of the idea of enacting this landmark act shall go a long way in eradicating the unemployment.
The Minister said that like other parts of the country, MG NREGA is becoming a backbone of the socio-economic development in rural areas and 10.55 lakh families have been registered under the scheme constituting about one half of the rural households as per the recent census. He said about 6 lakh families are actively availing the unskilled job opportunities under the scheme and the massive awareness campaigns and placement of Panchayati Raj Institutions in the State has ensured a geometrical fillip in the implementation of the scheme during the last three years.
In the Sammelan, the new operational guidelines were introduced for the implementation of the MG NREGA.