MGNREGA provided employment to nearly 4 crore people in 2010
NEW DELHI: Nearing the four crore mark in providing jobs under MGNREGA , re-launching the Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas scheme and reinforcing social audit in programmes on complaints of irregularities were the foremost tasks of the rural development ministry in 2010.
While 3.9 crore households were provided employment, the share of women beneficiaries under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act went up to 51 per cent, with over 69.14 crore beneficiaries.
The MoRD's functioning witnessed a revived zest in February after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted there were some "lapses" in the flagship job guarantee scheme's implementation, including the problem of payment of wages to workers.
Even though there were reports that states like Rajasthan failed to check distress migration as minimum 100 days of employment assured under the Act was not provided to all workers, the scheme did manage to add 51 crore beneficiaries from Scheduled Castes and 23.36 crore from Scheduled Tribes.
In its maiden attempt to deliver amenities in rural areas, the MoRD re-launched the PURA scheme under a public-private partnership model with support from Department of Economic Affairs and technical assistance from Asian Development Bank .
Corporates that take up works under PURA are tasked with improving infrastructure for water and sewerage, maintenance of village streets, skill development apart from adding people-centric initiatives such as village linked tourism, integrated rural hub (market), agri-common centres and warehousing.
Instances of alleged irregularities from certain states prompted the ministry to strengthen social audit in the programmes and consider appointment of an Ombudsman for effective grievance redressal in each district.
Apart from the ministry's internal mechanism to check graft there were instances in which the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, intervened and told authorities to probe allegations ranging from alleged embezzlement of funds to diversion of money from the target population.
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