The Hindu : National : Help of IIMs, IITs sought to assess rural job scheme

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Help of IIMs, IITs sought to assess rural job scheme

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: The Union government has sought the help of Indian Institutes of Management and Indian Institutes of Technology to assess the impact of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

Replying to supplementaries during question hour, Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the government had written to these institutions and Vice-Chancellors of universities seeking their cooperation.

“We want them to see rural life and conduct a technical and impact assessment of the programme. We have started receiving positive responses,” he said.

Asked about the observations of the Comptroller Auditor-General on the scheme’s “poor” implementation, he said there were “teething problems.” In fact, it was his Ministry that got the CAG assessment done.

To a query, he said the National Informatics Centre, had developed a software for “monthly monitoring” of the programme.

The Andhra Pradesh government had commissioned the Tata Consultancy Service to prepare a “transparent” software for the State.

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