Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

No response to State’s plea

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State government’s plea for more flexibility in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) guidelines has not yet evoked a positive response from the Centre. The delay in responding to the repeated requests of the government is feared to impede the move to extend the programme for supporting the ailing agriculture sector.

The scheme meant for providing uninterrupted annual employment of 100 days to a family at Rs.125 per head, has been implemented in Palakkad, Wayanad, Idukki and Kasaragod districts in two phases. The first phase covered Wayanad and Palakkad and the second, Idukki and Kasaragod. Though it has been extended to all rural districts, the demand to amend the guidelines to make it more significant to the local context remains a cry in the wilderness.

The complaint that the guidelines of all Centrally-sponsored schemes are being drawn up considering the social and geographical features of the North Indian States is applicable to the NREGP too and hence it is not conducive to the State.

Local Administration Department sources told The Hindu that the existing guidelines of the scheme impose a lot of restrictions on the implementing agencies, mainly the local self-government institutions. Unlike in North Indian States which have huge tracts of vacant land, the State has fragmented land holdings and most of them are owned by individuals. Taking up watershed-based projects exclusively in government land is not an easy proposition.

More flexible guidelines have become essential to generate more tangible results in generating employment and also increasing productivity in the agriculture sector. Local self-government institutions should be permitted to take up jobs in the lands owned by Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, as well as small and marginal farmers who possess below two hectares of land.

The topography of the land and density of population in each region too should be considered for the purpose, the sources said.

Considering the acute scarcity of rice, the extent of paddy cultivation in the State has to be stepped up immediately. The implementation of schemes worked out by the local bodies are hit by shortage of farm labourers. Those enrolled under the scheme should be permitted to take up agriculture jobs too. This would end the shortage of labourers and provide employment to the men and women labourers who earn Rs.75 and Rs.50 daily in Palakkad and Thrissur.

The schemes not only provide equal job opportunities, but also ensures consistent supply of labourers to the paddy farmers in the State. Getting labourers in Idukki too is an arduous task.

Hence, the guidelines should be reworked in consultation with the State government to meet the local requirements, the sources said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

‘Save Library’ forum to meet Chief Minister
Tributes offered on Ambedkar’s birthday
No response to State’s plea
Tourism on a growth trajectory
Row over medical PG seats allotment
Memorable Vishu for Juvenile Home inmates
Security guard’s murder: seven held
Mayor seeks high-level meeting
Fervour marks Vishu festivities
Thiruvananthapuram Today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu