Use pvt land to create rural infra assets: Plan panel

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In a move that might give a fillip to meeting the targets of Bharat Nirman components like rural telephony and irrigation projects, the Planning Commission has mooted the idea of using private land, such as those owned by small and marginal farmers, including the land of SC/ST farmers, to create rural infrastructure assets while generating more jobs under the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme.

The proposal has, however, evoked a mixed response as it might result in acquisition of the land which is against the NREG Act, 2005 and might end up creating private assets for the land owners. According to the Act, “NREGA resources should not be used for land acquisition. Land belonging to small and marginal farmers or SC/ST landowners cannot be acquired or donated for works under the programme.”

Senior government officials said the Commission’s plan would have to have enough safeguards to ensure that the private land does not end up being acquired by the state or any other agency or the ‘high and mighty’ under the garb of being used for social sector schemes like NREG and other Bharat Nirman programmes.

So far, the idea behind the NREG scheme has been to generate 100 days’ employment and create public assets such as water conservation and water harvesting, drought proofing, including afforestation and tree plantation and irrigation canals, including micro and minor irrigation works that are durable. But in case the rural development ministry, the nodal ministry for implementing the NREG, accepts this proposal, it might lead to the creation of private assets, said a senior official dealing with the idea.

According to a comparative, study carried out by the Commission, between the NREGA and the Swampoorn Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) and the National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP), the NREG had provided more employment than the SGRY and NFFWP put together. In 2005-06, the fourth year of SGRY and NFFWP, the employment generated was for 1,116 million while the NREGA created 905 million jobs in the very first year of its launch in 2006-07.

Some of the better performing states under NREGA have been Madhya Pradesh (MP), Assam, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (UP),

West Bengal, Orissa, Gujarat and Maharashtra have been under-performers.