India forms panel to revamp only govt job guarantee scheme: Report

India's federal rural development ministry has formed a panel to revamp its only job guarantee scheme in the hope of directing more work to the country's poorer regions, a senior government official said on Friday.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, or MNREGA, was in high demand in the Asian nation's rural areas as they emerged from the pandemic amid soaring inflation and limited non-farm job opportunities.

Residents of relatively affluent states, however, may have fared better in securing work under the key anti-poverty job program, triggering calls for changes to the scheme, the official, who did not