Jobs Act to benefit 1.16 crore

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) will provide 100 days of guaranteed wage employment to 1.16 crore rural households, generating 116.12 crore mandays during 2006-07.

Stating this, the Outcome Budget of flagship schemes tabled in Parliament today added that a total of Rs 11,612 crore would be available under the scheme in 2006-07.

Of this amount, Rs 10,556 crore would be made available by the Centre for providing wage employment guarantee, with Rs 1,056 crore being the states' share.

While outcomes under the NREGA would be "creation of durable assets and strengthening the livelihood resource base of the rural poor," the budget noted that it would take at least 3-4 years before these could be assessed.

Even in the case of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), the document said it was not possible to lay down outcomes which could be monitored through monthly, quarterly or annual reports.

"The impact of the scheme can be assessed only through evaluation by an independent agency at the end of, say 3-5 years," it said.

Some of the quantifiable outputs under the ICDS for 2006-07 include 5,635 operational projects, increase in the total number of blocks covered from 2000 to 6108.

Similarly, 100,000,000 children in the age group of 6-14 years would be enrolled under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA). An additional five lakh classrooms would be created, taking the total number of classrooms till the end of 2006-07 to 34 lakh. As many as 1.5 lakh teachers would be recruited, taking the total number of teachers to 42 lakh till the end of 2006-07.

The measures under the SSA are expected to reduce the gender gap in the Gross Enrollment Ration by two percentage points and reduce the drop-out rate in primary classes (I-V) by five per cent in 2006-07, the budget said.

It said that 41 institutions had been designated to monitor progress of the SSA and submit quarterly reports.

The Institute of Public Auditor of India, which has also been asked to undertake a financial review of the programme, has submitted its findings for 12 states and would cover the remaining over the next two-three years.