The Hindu : National : Monitor job scheme: Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 29, 2006

National

National

Monitor job scheme: Congress

Special Correspondent

Plan to showcase A.P. Government's achievement in implementing programme

NEW DELHI : Having heard the views of the party on the challenges in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the Congress says it has to take an active role, especially in States where it is not in the government.

With Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh emphasising the need for party members to spread the word about the scheme and take credit for it, the plan is that the All-India Congress Committee spearhead the campaign and drive the Pradesh/District Congress Committees.

In this effort, it plans to showcase the achievement of the Andhra Pradesh Government in the implementation of the programme.

For hands-on approach

The party feels that the Centre has to adopt a "hands-on" approach by monitoring the implementation of the programme.

At a convention of District Congress Committee chiefs on Friday, several speakers suggested the setting up of a committee in each district where the programme is operational, with some making reference to the telephone advisory committee model.

While it would be easier for the Congress to exert pressure in States where it governs, the real challenge lies in the ensuring the success of the programme in non-Congress ruled States.

Sixty per cent of the 200 districts are now in States where the Congress is not in power. There were several complaints at the meeting that in such States the governments were claiming credit even though Centre was providing 90 per cent of the NREGA funds.

Federalism

To this, Mr. Ramesh, who was associated in preparing the draft as a member of the National Advisory Council, said: "The NREGA was conceived in a genuine spirit of cooperative federalism perhaps with a sense of noble innocence and lofty naivety.''

However, the Congress has decided to counter it by launching agitations wherever necessary and take recourse to social audit.

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