The Hindu Business Line : PM for effective monitoring of poverty alleviation schemes

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Mr C.P. Joshi, at a conference in New Delhi on Wednesday. —

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Sept. 9 The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said the country had still to realise the “full potential” of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the implementation of which has been uneven across States.

Speaking here on Wednesday, Dr Singh said an effective oversight mechanism is “extremely important” on various poverty alleviation programmes as the Government has made an allocation of nearly Rs 68,000 crore on these schemes.

“Allocations for poverty alleviation programmes are rising every year. We have now to ensure that our people get the best value for every rupee spent on their behalf,” he said addressing the conference of the State Ministers of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj here.

He said Rs 39,000 crore has been allocated for Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and Rs 2,350 crore for the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna (SGSY). Under the Rajiv Gandhi National Rural Drinking Water Mission and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, provisions have been made for Rs 8,000 crore and Rs 18,500 crore respectively in the current year, he said adding, “effective oversight of these programmes is therefore extremely important.”

Pointing out that the performance of the NREGA programme was “uneven across States,” Dr Singh said some States have shown good results, while some others are lagging behind. “I urge them to catch up.” “We still have miles to go before we achieve the full potential of this unique legislation,” he said and referred to the setting up of a ‘Delivery Monitoring Unit’ at the Prime Minister’s Office to monitor the flagship projects such as the NREGA programme.

Dr Singh said that although the monsoon has revived in most parts of the country there is still a need to re-double efforts to mitigate the impact of drought in the rural areas. “Since most areas will have deficient rainfall, there is a need to make every effort to ensure that the impact of the drought is reduced to the minimum,” he added.

NREGA, he pointed out, was making a contribution to financial inclusion and also to the increased bargaining power of the agricultural labour. “State Governments are being encouraged to make wage payments under the programme through banks and post office accounts. Nearly 78 million such accounts have been opened,” he said.

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