MGNREGA: Assam exceeds target by 40 per cent

Manday creation under MGNREGA

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: For the first time, Assam exceeded the Central Government's manday-creation target under the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) by over forty per cent in fiscal 2021-22. So much so that the Centre had to revise the target of creation mandays for Assam. The state, however, exceeded the revised target also.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma laid much stress on the creation of mandays under the MGNREGA. He had frequent meetings with Panchayat & Rural Development (P&RD) Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass, the P&RD Commissionerate and the P&RD department.

According to sources, the Centre set the target for generating 6.5 crore mandays in Assam in 2021-22. However, the state achieved that target in December 2021, leading the Centre to revise the target to 7.30 crore mandays in that fiscal. At the end of fiscal 2021-22 (March 31), the state created around 9.16 crore mandays, over 40 per cent more than the original target of 6.5 crores.

MGNREGA is a labour law and social security measure that guarantees the 'right to work'.

Inspired by this success, the State Government has set the target of generating 20 crore mandays in the fiscal that began on April 1, 2022, to provide more jobs to the job cardholders of the state.

A new scheme under the MGNREGA – Amrit Sarovar – is also in the pipeline to generate jobs in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is bound for Assam on April 28, may launch this scheme. Under this scheme, each district of the state has to dig 75 ponds with at least seven bighas of land each. The Fishery Department and Chief Minister Samagra Gramya Unnayan Yojana will help the P&RD Department execute the scheme. The very purpose of this scheme is water conservation, fishery, income generation and manday creation.

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