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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | NAC focus back on job scheme, asks rural ministry for details by Ruhi Tewari

NAC focus back on job scheme, asks rural ministry for details by Ruhi Tewari

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published Published on Oct 22, 2010   modified Modified on Oct 22, 2010

Along with the proposed food security legislation and the communal violence Bill that have been its focus until now, the reconstituted National Advisory Council (NAC) is beginning to focus again on the government’s marquee rural job guarantee scheme as well.

The ministry of rural development has been told to make a presentation on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to a working group of the NAC on Friday, said a ministry official and an NAC member.

The 14-member NAC, the political interface between the Congress party and the government it leads, is chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The council, which was reconstituted in June, essentially sets the government’s social agenda.

The first NAC was associated with the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s signature social reforms, including MGNREGA and the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The new panel has been giving priority to draft legislations such as the food security Bill, which promises cheaper foodgrains to the poor, and the communal harmony Bill, which seeks to improve relations between religious communities.

The NAC working group on transparency and accountability, with member Aruna Roy as its convener, has asked the ministry of rural development, which oversees MGNREGA, to prepare a presentation on three aspects: entitlements, wages and transparency.

MGNREGA assures 100 days of work a year to each poor rural household.

Launched in 2006, it has been one of the Congress-led government’s most successful welfare programmes, benefiting 35.2 million households in 619 districts. It has a budgetary allocation of Rs.40,100 crore this fiscal.

“We have been asked to make a presentation by the working group of NAC on everything about these three aspects of MGNREGA on the 22nd (October). The secretary (rural development secretary B.K. Sinha) will make the presentation, and then it seems the NAC will give us suggestions on what the ministry should do,” said an official in the ministry of rural development, requesting anonymity.

The NAC is scheduled to meet on Saturday.

“We have asked the ministry to make a presentation in the working group meeting tomorrow (Friday). We are an advisory group so we will make suggestions to them. One of the crucial elements is the issue of wages,” said NAC member Harsh Mander, who is also a member of the working group on transparency and accountability.

Roy is also a member of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC), a watchdog for the job guarantee scheme as provided by the Act.

The council has been urging the rural development ministry to index MGNREGA wages to the price level, so the wages are consistent with the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. It has also pushed for reducing work hours under the scheme from nine to seven hours a day, among other recommendations.

Mint could not reach Roy despite repeated attempts.


Live Mint, 22 October, 2010, http://www.livemint.com/2010/10/21213116/NACfocusbackonjobscheme.html?atype=tp


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