(a) whether the mandate accorded under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has been expanded to accommodate small and marginal farmers
including those belonging to the Schedule Caste/Scheduled Tribe categories; and
(b) if so, the details thereof and the quantum of funds earmarked and utilized for the
said purpose during each of the last three years and the current year,State-wise?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT(SHRI PRADEEP JAIN ‘ADITYA’)
(a)&(b): Yes, Sir. The Government has extended the benefits of works on individual lands as
stipulated in para 1
(iv) of Schedule I of NREG Act to small and marginal farmers vide
Notification dated 22.7.2009. Para 1
(iv) of Schedule-I of the Act as amended from time to
time reads as under:
“Provision of irrigation facility, horticulture plantation and land development facilities to
land owned by households belonging to the Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes or below poverty
line families or to beneficiaries of land reforms or to the beneficiaries under the Indira
Awas Yojana of Government of India or that of the small farmers or marginal farmers as defined
in the Agriculture Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme, 2008.â€
Under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, funds are released to the States/districts based on the labour
demand arising at the field level. There is no project-wise allocation of funds under the Act.