NEW DELHI: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) completed ten years of implementation on Tuesday.
The Union Ministry of Rural Development said the achievements of a decade are a cause of national pride and celebration.
The Flagship rural job guarantee scheme was announced by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in February 2006. Since the beginning, the expenditure on the programme has amounted to over Rupees three lakh crore. Out of this, 71 percent has been spent on wage payments to workers. Over 1,980 crore person-days have been generated in the programme.
The percentage of Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribe workers has been at about 20 percent 17 percent respectively. Besides, 57 percent of all workers are women, which is well above the statutory requirement of 33 percent. More than 65 percent of the works taken up under MGNREGA are linked to agriculture and allied activities.
Meanwhile, the Centre is holding ‘MGNREGA Sammelan’ in the National Capital today to mark 10 years of the scheme. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will be the Chief Guest in the event.