NEAR AND DEAR NREGA

What Jean Dreze, a Belgian economist from the Delhi School of Economics had put on paper, Manmohan Singh put into real life in 2005. The historic National Rural Employment Guarantee Act became enforceable across 200 districts in India, costing Rs. 400 billion. The scheme aims at reducing unemployment in rural India and is designed to provide 100 days of employment to every household within the selected districts at minimum wages fixed by the state governments. Both the center and state would have shares in the financing of the scheme. The only worry: if the current system reeking of corruption continues, there is not much hope of the unemployed getting their due, since contractors, bureaucrats and politicians would steal as usual.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial, 2006