Over 40 mn households get jobs under job scheme

With a budgetary outlay of over Rs 70,000 crore on various poverty alleviation and employment generation schemes, nearly four and half crore households have availed job opportunities, the Economic Survey said today.

"During the year 2009-10, 4.34 crore households have been provided employment under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)," the Survey for 2009-10 said. In the previous financial year, over 4.51 crore households were provided employment under the scheme.

As against the budgetary outlay of Rs 39,100 crore for 2009-10 for NREGS, an amount of Rs 24,758.50 crore has been released to the states and union territories till December 2009, the Survey, tabled in Parliament, said.

"Out of the 182.88 crore person days created under the scheme during this period, 29 per cent and 22 per cent were in favour of Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes population respectively, and 50 per cent in favour of women," it added.

Under the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), over 36.78 lakh self-help groups had been formed and 1.33 crore 'swarozgaris' have been assisted with a total investment of Rs 30,896.08 crore.

The government has also utilised Rs 363.12 crore till December 2009 under the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana. A total of 28,613 urban poor have been assisted to set up individual enterprises.

The government had fixed the total budgetary outlay at over Rs 70,000 crore for all employment generation schemes during the fiscal, the Survey said.