NREGA amended, allows 30 new tasks

Thirty new works have been added to the list of permissible tasks under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, through amendments carried out last week. The amendments while emphasising on works related to watershed based projects, irrigation, poultry and livestock left out actual agricultural labour under NREGA as was proposed earlier. Minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh said the inclusion of labour under System of Rice Intensification or SRI under NREGA has been put on hold as it would be a recurring sort of work and would open a pandora's box for such works of sugar cane, or wheat or cotton cultivator to be brought under NREGA, he said.