A modified version of the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), will be put up for Cabinet approval today. The new food-for-work programme will evolve into the employment guarantee programme promised by the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP). Under the food-for-work programme proposed by the rural development ministry, the entire wage component will be borne by the Centre as against the current system of splitting the wage component between the Centre and states in a 75:25 proportion. District collectors will be in charge of the new programme, as against the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana, where Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) are the implementing authorities. Barring these two changes, the new programme is the same as the SGRY, said officials. The Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana focusses on providing a wage employment in rural areas and also food security, alongside the creation of durable community, social and economic assets and infrastructure developments in these areas. The Budget for 2004-05 had allocated Rs 4,590 crore for the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana. In addition, Rs 2020 crore had been alloted for food for work programmes in 150 selected districts in the country. "The amount is enough for the remaining part of the year," said officials, adding that ways to improve the quality of absorption would have to be looked at. "The UPA Government will immediately enact a National Employment Guarantee Act. This will provide a legal guarantee for at least 100 days of employment, to begin with, on asset-creating public works programmes every year at minimum wages for at least one able-bodied person in every rural, urban poor and lower-middle class household. In the interim, a massive food-for-work programme will be started," the National Common Minimum Programme states.
