The Union government is on a social sector roll. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had indicated that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was going to make the social sector the centrepiece of the upcoming Budget. Now the Ministry of Rural Development has written to all state governments to send fresh proposals for allocations to be made in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and the Backward Regions Grants Fund (BRGF). The states have been asked to submit their proposals within 15 days.
According to Dilip Ghosh, special secretary, Panchayat Raj department of West Bengal, the Centre has indicated that the demand for grants for these projects should be hiked at least 50 per cent more than the present allocation.
NREGS, which gives 100 days’ guaranteed work in rural areas, is one of the major initiatives by the previous UPA government, which is now considered to have played a crucial role in helping the Congress win the recent Lok Sabha elections. The government is spending a huge amount in trying to augment earnings of the rural poor by offering them 100 days of job in their areas against a minimum wage. The NREGS has been designed as an open-ended demand-based programme under which, till March 2009, Rs 36,214 crore was allocated for the whole country. For West Bengal, the amount was Rs 1,277 crore. The accumulated amount remained unspent as none of the states could generate 100 days work for the poor.
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