BHUBANESWAR: In a move to enhance social inclusion and livelihood security, the Odisha government has decided to prioritise wage employment of vulnerable groups under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The groups to be brought under MGNREGA are PwDs, primitive and nomadic tribal groups, denotified tribes, women in special circumstances, senior citizens above 65 years of age, HIV positive people and internally displaced persons. A minimum of 100 days of work will be provided to them with efforts to ensure that they are not excluded due to physical limitations.
The Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department has asked all collectors, block development officers and gram panchayats to ensure that eligible individuals from these groups are identified, enrolled, and engaged in suitable work under the scheme.
Panchayati Raj secretary Girish SN said although vulnerable groups from different districts have been already enrolled in the scheme, the idea is to include the left out and provide them job guarantee in a focused way. “They will be involved in works that they can do without much hesitation to reduce deprivation. A list of specific jobs tailored for them has been shared with districts,” he told TNIE.
The districts have been directed to formulate specific plans for these special categories. They will engage volunteers to properly identify the persons, who are capable of working under the scheme, and ascertain the needs and requirements of these vulnerable people through gram sabha.
A guideline has been shared with the districts for identifying the vulnerable persons and making action plans to provide them wage employment. New job cards will be issued to adult persons with disability, aged above 18. One job card will be issued if both the spouses are PwDs in a wedlock.
Sources said each village will have a ‘Divyang Shakti Group’ of PwDs and each group would comprise no less than two and not more than 20 members. Exclusive senior citizen groups will be formed with those who are not being taken care of by their families and look up to MGNREGA support. Similarly, focus will be given to people who have been internally displaced due to communal or caste violence or Left Wing extremism.
As per the guideline, the PwDs can be engaged in works like drinking water arrangement, plantation, earth backfilling, sprinkling water on newly built wall, filling sand or pebbles, land leveling, farm bunding and shifting concrete and other building materials. Women with disabilities can be appointed for providing drinking water for the workers at the workplace.