MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. RAGHUVANSH PRASAD SINGH)
(a) to (g) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
Statement referred to in reply to part (a) to (g) of Lok Sabha Starred Question
No.404 to be answered on 12.5.2006
(a) & (b) The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 has been launched in the
identified 200 districts. State-wise number of districts is at column 3 of Annexure-I. Out
of the 200 districts identified for implementation of NREGA in the first phase, 150
districts are those districts which had been earlier identified for NFFWP and 50 new
districts have been identified by the Planning Commission. These 150 districts were
selected on the basis of an exercise conducted by the Planning Commission on the basis
of three parameters SC/ST population, inverse of agricultural productivity per worker and
inverse of agricultural wage rate. At least one district was selected from each State
except Goa. For North Eastern States except Assam where data on above parameters was
not available, districts were selected out of RSVY districts. Out of the 50 new districts
selected, 45 districts are those districts which were covered under Rashtriya Sam Vikas
Yojana (RSVY) but not included in NFFWP. 5 districts have been identified by the
Planning Commission to assess the impact of the programme in certain specific
backgrounds.
(c) A statement giving details of the households registered under the Act and number
of people who have been provided employment is at Annexure-II.
(d) The type of works which can be taken up under the Act have been given in Para
(1) of Schedule-1 of the Act. Under the NREG Act, 100 days of wage employment is
guaranteed only for the unskilled manual work. In terms of para 6(2) of the Act until
such time a wage rate is fixed by the Central Government, the minimum wages fixed by
the State Government under section 3 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 for agricultural
labourers, shall be the wage rate under NREGA.
(e) Funds provided to the States for implementation of the Act during the year 2005-
2006 and 2006-2007 are given in column 4 and 5 of Annexure-I.
(f) Complaints have been received regarding irregularities in the implementation of
the Act in States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Madhya
Pradesh. In most of the complaints it had been indicated by the complainant that the
States are implementing the Act as State schemes and the title of NREG Act has been
totally omitted in the various documents printed for the implementation of the Act.
Consequently, Ministry of Rural Development had issued instructions to all the States to
print NREG Act on all the documents printed for its implementation. In a complaint
received from Madhya Pradesh it had been mentioned that job cards are being issued to
elite sections of society. The complaint has been referred to the State Government for
examination.
(g) In order to ensure transparency and accountability in the implementation of the
Act, necessary provisions have been made in the Act itself by providing for monitoring of
Act at each level and also for Social Audit at the Gram Sabha level. Chapter 11 of Central
Guidelines enlists the steps to be taken by the States and implementing agencies to ensure
the transparency and accountability. An MIS has been prepared by Ministry of Rural
Development and provided to all the States for furnishing of the information on a
continuous basis to the Central Government. NREGA Guidelines also provide for
constitution of local vigilance and monitoring committees of beneficiaries as well as
payment of wages through banks and post offices wherever practicable.
