As General Election draws near, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government plans to showcase its flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme to highlight its social sector achievements.
A national conference has been planned in the capital’s Vigyan Bhawan on February 2 where NREGA stakeholders from all over the country would be invited. As the Congress considers the Act to be its best achievement in the social sector and poverty alleviation, apart from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi too will lead the celebrations.
The NREGA is completing two years of its implementation on February 2, 2008. The programme was launched in 200 selected districts in 17 states. However, soon after Rahul Gandhi became the general secretary of the Congress party last year, the government acted upon his suggestion and extended it across all the states from April 1, 2008.
Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told Business Standard: “We will celebrate the NREGA as our major achievement. From various parts of the country, people associated with the project — from the beneficiaries to the district-level government officers —would be invited to share their experiences in front of the country.”
As part of the campaign, Singh will formally present two insurance schemes for the beneficiaries. “I have asked the states to start providing health and life insurance schemes to the beneficiaries. We will talk about the schemes during the seminar.”