Tripura has kept its top position for the fifth consecutive year for offering 66 person-days so far in the current fiscal in executing the central government's flagship rural jobs scheme MGNREGS, a minister said here Monday.
"Tripura has been providing the highest average employment for the past five years under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)," said Rural Development Minister Jitendra Chaudhury.
"Tripura provided 66 days of work till Feb 20 (in the 2013-14 fiscal) under the MGNREGS against the national average of 39 person-days."
"Tripura has retained the top position since the 2009-10 fiscal in terms of person-days generation.
"In 2012-13, Tripura provided 87 person-days, highest in the country, followed by Mizoram (69.25), Tamil Nadu (51.26) and Andhra Pradesh (49.61). The national average was 45 days," Chaudhury said, quoting the performance report of the union rural development ministry.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) mandates 100 days of employment in a financial year to one member of each rural household.
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He said that till Feb 20 (in the current fiscal), Tamil Nadu was in second position creating 52 person-days followed by Mizoram (49), Sikkim (48), Kerala (47), Karnataka (47), Himachal Pradesh (46), Rajasthan (43), Andhra Pradesh (42), Jammu and Kashmir (42), Chhhattisgarh (41), Maharashtra (41) and Meghalaya (39).
Tripura can improve further in terms of creation of person-days of work if central government funds are received on time, he said.
The state also has the leading position in India in participation of tribals in MGNREGS with 45 percent against the national average of 16. A total of 48 percent women got rural jobs directly in Tripura against the national average of 54.
The minister said Tripura also expects a rise in its allocation for the coming fiscal for MGNREGS.
He said Tripura was the first to introduce the e-FMS (Electronic Fund Management System) last year to help provide wages to MGNREGS workers swiftly.
The e-FMS would make the entire monetary systems - from allocation of funds by the union and state governments to MGNREGS labourers - transparent, hassle and error-free and paperless besides eliminating administrative delays.
Tripura is providing wages to MGNREGS workers at their doorsteps through business correspondents engaged by various nationalised and regional rural banks, he said.
Under MGNREGS, besides providing rural jobs, rural assets created include individual household latrine, drinking water sources, rural road connectivity, promotion of livestock, pisciculture, watershed management and afforestation, securing livelihood activities.