Raghuvansh Prasad Singh

NEW DELHI: Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh on Tuesday criticised the "fraud" in the name of running the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) Scheme in Bihar.

Talking to reporters at the end of an orientation workshop for 113 district orientation coordinators here, Mr. Singh said the Bihar Government failed to deliver results under the scheme due to discrepancies in implementation. The scheme had not shown expected results in Kerala either, but this was primarily due to the Assembly elections.

Picking up

The scheme now started picking up. Some gains had also been made in Tamil Nadu and the performance of Rajasthan was beyond expectations, he said.

The NREGA was implemented in 200 districts in the first phase and up to February 2007, 1.87 crore households had demanded employment of which 1.83 crore were provided jobs. Of the total number of people provided jobs, 40.76 per cent were women, 37.72 per cent Scheduled Tribes and 24.7 per cent Scheduled Castes. The focus was on water harvesting and conservation.

Districts notified

Mr. Singh said that with a view to expanding the coverage under the NREGA, 130 districts were added in 2007-08.

Act amended

While 113 districts had been notified, the remaining districts in Uttar Pradesh would be notified after the election process was over.

The Act was amended to expand the scope of works which could be taken up on the land of beneficiaries also.

Besides irrigation facilities, horticulture plantation and land development on the land of SC/STs, below poverty line (BPL) families, and beneficiaries of land reforms and Indira Awas Yojana had now been included within the purview of the Act.

The second amendment provided for the starting of a new work if a minimum of 10 labourers were available against the earlier limit of 50 workers.

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