Govt mulls ?lean period? for rural job scheme in harvesting season

In order to tackle the issue of agricultural labour shortage during the harvesting season, the Centre is considering a proposal to introduce a ?lean period? under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Many areas of states like Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, UP, and Tamil Nadu have reported shortage labour during harvesting of crops like wheat and rice after the introduction of

NREGA in the region.

An official with rural development department in Andhra Pradesh said the state government directed the district administration to suspend work under NREGA so that sufficient labour could be provided to harvesting.

The NREGA?under which 100 days of assured manual works is provided to each household in a year?was initially introduced in 200 districts in the country in February 2006. It was later extended to all the districts from April 2008,

The government has spent more than Rs 20,000 crore under NREGA since its launch. More than 16.41 lakh projects mostly relating to water conservation and road construction have taken up under NREGA since its launch and 4.68 lakhs projects have already been completed.

According to rural development ministry official, the workers under NREGA have been getting same minimum wage that they would have got from undertaking harvesting works. Labourers have to travel to Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh from Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for working as seasonal labour at the agricultural field.

?Under the NREGA, the work is being provided in the workers? district, thus there have been reports of less migration to Punjab and Haryana and other states,? the official told fe. Many labourers are not ready to move to the city from rural areas any more as NREGA has been extended to all districts.

According to an independent study conducted by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on the impact of NREGA , the scheme, if implemented sincerely, could help ecological regeneration of the country, as productive assets would be added.

In the first phase, community ponds have to be cleaned up to increase storage capacity during the rainy season. Later, a tree plantation drive is launched, for which pits were dug. The government is considering proposal to allow maintenance works of already created assets under NREGA. Another proposal under the active consideration of the government is expand the definition of households so that people living in a joint family could be provided greater number of days of jobs.