The Minister of Rural Development, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh  has called for all out efforts to ensure that all payment to workers under NREGA takes place through bank accounts or post offices. Taking stock of the performance of key divisions of the Department of Rural Development in a two-day meeting which concluded here today Dr. Singh emphasized  effective implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).  He advised all the State Governments to make payment of wages through bank and post office  accounts and directed that no cash payment would be made beyond September, 2008.  So far 1.40 crore bank accounts and 1.49 crore number of post office accounts have been opened. 100 percent of the wages are being paid through bank accounts or post offices to NREGA workers in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and Pondicherry. All other states have committed to comply by the deadline. This would be the largest financial inclusion process of the world.  Principal Secretaries and Secretaries in charge of various rural development programmes  of all the State Governments and Union Territories participated in the meeting.   In order to get maximum outcome from the expenditure made by the Ministry and to ensure effective delivery system, the Ministry is utilizing a number of monitoring tools.   The meeting of the Performance Review Committee (PRC) every quarter is one of them. 

             The  Minister also emphasized  transparency in implementation of NREGA and other rural development programmes.  He advised the State Governments to respond to the reports published in media quickly in order to eradicate any misconceptions that exist amongst the people.  Similarly, putting  all information including muster rolls in the web site would a key step to achieve full transparency  in programme implementation.  The Hon’ble Minister also advised the State Governments to take all necessary action to transfer of funds from districts to the panchayats without any delay and also disclose the funds flow information in the web site and the newsletter of the Ministry, Grameen Bharat.

          There is a huge jump in financial allocation  for the programmes of Ministry of Rural Development.  The budget allocation (BE) for the Ministry is Rs.49,000 crores during 2008-09. 

            While reviewing NREGA  it was found that upto July, 2008,   2.53 crore rural households have got employment and 85.29 crore person days of employment is generated.   The State Government representatives informed about indicators showing the  positive outcome of the NREGA.  For example, to name a few, distress migration has been reduced,  and there has been improvement in ground water table,   and increase in productivity of land due to soil and water conservation works . All the NREGA beneficiaries  will now be covered under Janshree Bima Yojana (JBY) for their Life Insurance.  States have also been asked to cover all eligible NREGA workers under Rashtriya Swasthya Yojana.

            Achievements under other major programmes of the Department of Rural Development like Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana  (SGSY), Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) were also reviewed  in the PRC meeting.   The financial achievements are annexed.   Under PMGSY, during the year 2008-09, 11,153 kms. of roads have been constructed and  around 2,500 habitations have been connected. So far, under PMGSY, over 3.25 lakh kilometers of road works have been sanctioned and 1.80 lakh kilometers has been built. On an average, more than 31 villages are getting connected per day.

  Under SGSY, the emphasis is on formation and sustaining Self Help Groups (SHGs) for generating livelihood, and during the current year around 85,000 SHGs have been formed.   Since inception in 1999, more than 28 lakh SHGs have been formed, of which 82 % are women SHGs. States have been asked to cover all the BPL families in the  Self-Help Group network by end of the 11^th plan. Under the rural housing scheme of IAY,  4.25 lakh houses have been constructed for rural poor.   Persons aged 65 years and higher and belonging to a household below the poverty line (BPL) have been covered under IGNOAPS.   Till now,  1.43  crore beneficiaries have been receiving old age pension under IGNOAPS. 

            For detailed information the website of the Ministry may be visited. The addresses of the websites are: www.rural.nic.in , www.drd.nic.in, http://ddws.nic.in/, http://dolr.nic.in/,  and http://nrega.nic.in/

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  SMK/ST/-