Riding the NREGA wave, UPA mulls more scheme workdays

The Centre is set to significantly expand the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), widely acknowledged as a game-changer for the Congress in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls. The rural development ministry is working towards increasing the number of days of guaranteed employment under the scheme from the present threshold of 100 days a year.

?We have decided to look into the possibility of further expanding the NREGS since we have been getting several representations to that effect,? rural development secretary Rita Sharma told FE.

Earlier this month, Rajya Sabha MP and former Reserve Bank of India governor Bimal Jalan had also suggested that the number of guaranteed days of employment under the scheme be increased to 120. ?We have set up a task force to study the feasibility and financial impact of increasing the number of workdays under the scheme,? Sharma said.

Hiking the number of workdays may not have much of a financial impact on the exchequer as very few households seek employment under the scheme for the entire mandated 100 days. ?Our experience shows that rural workers seek employment under it only in the agricultural lean season or in drought-prone states,? Sharma said.

In 2008-09, the average duration of employment per household under the NREGS was a mere 47 days. While workers in Rajasthan were employed for the longest duration under the scheme at an average of 76 days, those in Kerala sought employment for an average of only 22 days?the lowest.

NREGS, launched by the UPA government in 2006, guarantees 100 days of wage employment every fiscal to each household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. For 2009-10, the Centre has allocated Rs 30,100 crore to the scheme, which currently covers 4.5 crore households. The scheme was expanded to cover all 615 districts of the country in 2008-09.

The Congress election manifesto promised to further strengthen this flagship programme by providing ?at least 100 days of work at a real wage of Rs 100 a day for everyone as an entitlement under the NREGA?.

The task force looking into increasing the number of workdays under the scheme includes officials from the ministry of rural development as well as the states, academicians and representatives from civil society organisations. It is expected to submit its recommendations by August.