Rural job scheme to be launched on Nov 14
The much-awaited National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is tentatively slated to be launched on November 14, Pandit Nehru’s birthday, in 200 districts.
By Prabha Jagannathan & Subhomoy Bhattarcharjee , TNN |
NEW DELHI: The much-awaited National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is tentatively slated to be launched on November 14, Pandit Nehru���s birthday, in 200 districts. For this year, the spending on the scheme is estimated by the rural development ministry to be only around Rs 4000 cr. But that is only for four months from December to March 2006.
For all of next year, the rural development ministry has estimated that the funding for the NREGS will total a maximum of Rs 16-17,000 cr.
Significantly, the much debated funding for the programme may be needless, given that the government plans to make up a good part of the finances by shuffling around funding from other wage employment and welfare programmes. For 05-06, an outlay of Rs 6000 cr (BE) has already been made for the National Food for Work Programme (NFWP, currently operating in 150 districts), which will be merged into the NREGS upon its launch. But Rs 1500 cr of outlay is slated to be shunted out into increasing the funding for the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), leaving Rs 4500 cr, sources said. The finance ministry has already agreed to this.
The SGRY, sources said, could not be shut down overnight and would only be eased out in a phased manner. But that would mean that funding to it would go down gradually and add to the kitty of the NREGS next year. Annually, SGRY spending is an average of Rs 6500 cr. Further, to save on expenses, the Centre plans to reduce the 50 lakh tonne foodgrain from NFWP.
Sources said earlier expenditure estimates by the finance ministry for the NREGS this year and next were high since they were calculated for one member of every rural family.
For all of next year, the rural development ministry has estimated that the funding for the NREGS will total a maximum of Rs 16-17,000 cr.
Significantly, the much debated funding for the programme may be needless, given that the government plans to make up a good part of the finances by shuffling around funding from other wage employment and welfare programmes. For 05-06, an outlay of Rs 6000 cr (BE) has already been made for the National Food for Work Programme (NFWP, currently operating in 150 districts), which will be merged into the NREGS upon its launch. But Rs 1500 cr of outlay is slated to be shunted out into increasing the funding for the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), leaving Rs 4500 cr, sources said. The finance ministry has already agreed to this.
The SGRY, sources said, could not be shut down overnight and would only be eased out in a phased manner. But that would mean that funding to it would go down gradually and add to the kitty of the NREGS next year. Annually, SGRY spending is an average of Rs 6500 cr. Further, to save on expenses, the Centre plans to reduce the 50 lakh tonne foodgrain from NFWP.
Sources said earlier expenditure estimates by the finance ministry for the NREGS this year and next were high since they were calculated for one member of every rural family.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
