The ambitious national rural employment guarantee programme of the United Progressive Alliance government to provide 100 days of engagement to every rural household will be launched on February 2 in 200 districts, including Sonia Gandhi's constituency Rae Bareli.
According to Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, the programme will be launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
This the prime minister will do by accepting application forms from job aspirants in rural areas.
Chief ministers of various states will also launch the scheme simultaneously in their states using the same process on the same day.
Initially the programme was meant for 150 districts but it was later decided to add 50 more to the first phase of the programme. This was decided by the Planning Commission, with Rae Bareli being one of the late entrants.
The Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed by Parliament in the monsoon session and the scheme was notified after presidential assent to the Bill. The scheme provides for 100 days of employment to every rural household.
A sum of Rs10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) will be needed for the phase for the remaining months of the current financial year.
While Rs 5,500 crore (Rs 55 billion) will come from the sampoorna grameen rozgar yojana fund, Rs 4,500 crore (Rs 45 billion) will be obtained from the food-for-work scheme. Singh also said all the necessary guidelines had been finalised for the implementation of the programme in consultation with states and experts.
"Heavy consultations during the framing of the Act have ensured that there is wide agreement on the programme," he said.
"I had said that I would be launching the programme within this financial year and that word has been kept," said Singh.
He added that while reviewing the implementation of the national common minimum programme, the prime Minister had laid special emphasis on employment-generating schemes, and the NREGP is the most ambitious of such programmes of the UPA government.
"This is the most important part of this government's social sector agenda. The whole world's eyes are on this programme. I shall be meeting rural development ministers of all states on January 5 and 6 to ensure that they are ready and able to tackle this programme," he said.
Hard days' work
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100 days of engagement to every rural household
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Rs 10,000 cr will be needed for the phase for the remaining months of the current financial year
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Rs 4,500 cr will be obtained from the food-for-work scheme
- Rs 5,500 cr will come from the sampoorna grameen rozgar yojana fund
