It will be a different kind of celebration when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government completes two years in office next month, with party chief Sonia Gandhi all set to showcase the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme at a Convention in New Delhi on May 26.
Sonia, as chairperson of the UPA coalition, had taken keen interest in several national schemes for the benefit of the rural poor and unemployed youth, including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, now in operation in 200 economically backward districts across the country.
Many of these backward districts - chosen on the basis of the SC/ST population, average agricultural wages paid and agricultural productivity per worker - fall in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Sonia is also likely to avail the opportunity to tell the nation about the laws enacted by the party-led government with regard to Rural Health Mission, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, mid-day meal scheme, Food-for Work programme, Right to Information Act and Women's Empowerment.
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which was part of the party's manifesto and has been a major issue during the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, was being operationalised in these districts considering their backwardness. It is aimed at providing Central support to uplift the standard of life of the masses there.
Besides district presidents, the conclave would be attended by Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs, Congress Legislature Party leaders, ministers in-charge of the districts where the scheme is being implemented and All India Congress Committee office bearers.
In order to ensure active participation of partymen in the implementation of the scheme, Gandhi has directed AICC General Secretaries to visit these districts and submit a report to her on the action taken by them. The report would be placed at the May 26 conclave to appraise the nation of the party's commitment towards providing jobs to the unemployed in the villages.
However, the party ascertained the views of its youths, women and student organisations on the scheme mostly in the states ruled by the non-Congress parties and mainly inhabited by people from to SC/ST, OBC and minority communities.
The conclave is part of Gandhi's repeated assertion to partymen to keep a watch on the implementation of the Central scheme, which promises 100 days of employment to a rural household at a minimum wage of at least Rs 60 a day.
The showcasing of the scheme assumes significance keeping in view that the 200 districts fall within the opposition-ruled states where Congress has to regain lost ground.
The 200 districts, comprising 250 seats in north and central India, are the places where the party had done badly in the last few Lok Sabha polls. There is a firm belief among a section of the party leadership that if effectively implemented, the scheme would be a boon for the party's resurrection.
However, some partymen also believe that while the Centre was funding the scheme, it is the state governments that were walking away with its credit as they were the implementing authority.
