By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will Tuesday release a report on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to mark completion of four years of the ambitious programme launched by the United Progressive Alliance government in its previous term.
The Ministry of Rural Development is organizing `Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Sammelan’ here to highlight the achievements of state governments and exchange notes on the best practices in the implementation of the programme. Around 1,200 participants are likely to take part in the deliberations which will include an interactive session between the beneficiaries and functionaries.
An official spokesperson said UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will release booklet titled “Rozgar Sutra” highlighting provisions, rights and entitlements under the Act.
The programme was launched from Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh in 2006 to provide every rural household a guarantee of at least 100 days of manual work during a financial year.
The programme now covers all districts of the country.
The spokesman said the central government had released over Rs.75,000 crore in the past four years to state governments under NREGA and almost 69 percent of the amount had been paid as wages to workers.
He added that 4.15 crore rural households had been provided employment under the programme.