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Our Bureau

New Delhi , Aug 26

More than 83 lakh rural households have been provided employment under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).

Of those who have received employment, about 21 per cent are SCs and 46 per cent STs; 41 per cent of the total number of employed are women.

This was stated by the Rural Development Minister, Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, while making a suo motu statement on the status of NREGA in the Lok Sabha.

Job cards

The Minister said that 2,54,73,820 job cards have been issued, according to the report available up to August 22; the cards entitle the holders to demand employment as per need and choice. Of these, 89,43,703 have demanded employment under the Act. Dr Singh said the Centre had released Rs 4,401.57 crore to States during the year for implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

An amount of Rs 11,300 crore has been provided for in the current year's Budget for implementation of the Act. The Minister said that Rs 2,367.56 crore was released for this purpose in 2005-06.

Dr Singh also said that the focus of the programme on water conservation was being maintained.

This is evident from the fact that 2,60,332 works have been taken up, of which 1,41,085 relate to water conservation, 16,727 to plantation and drought proofing, 3,391 to flood control and 43,859 to rural connectivity and other works.

He said eight States have constituted Employment Guarantee Councils. They are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh. Other States are taking action in this regard.

More Stories on : Employment | Rural Development

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