New Delhi, June 9 (IANS). The Central Government has taken a big step to give new impetus to the development of rural India, employment generation and protection of workers. Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday announced that the Center has released an interim amount of Rs 95,692.31 crore for states and union territories.
Earlier, Rs 30,000 crore has already been allocated under MNREGA. In this way the total allocation has exceeded Rs 1.25 lakh crore.
While presiding over the meeting held through video conferencing with the rural development ministers of the states regarding the implementation of ‘Developed India-Employment and Livelihood Mission (Rural)’, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that this amount will reach about 2.8 lakh gram panchayats of the country. With this, each Gram Panchayat will get assistance worth lakhs of rupees for development works.
He said that under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Central Government has taken comprehensive financial and policy initiatives for rural employment, labor welfare and overall development of villages. Special attention is being paid to making the new system, which will be implemented from July 1, completely worker-centric and hassle-free.
The Union Minister urged the states to approve the development works in advance, so that the implementation of the schemes can start at a fast pace from July 1. He also said that the government is not only providing funds but also wants to ensure timely wage payment, protection of workers’ rights and continuity of development works.
Talking about digital and administrative preparedness, Chouhan said that many states have made significant progress in areas like direct benefit transfer, e-KYC, face authentication and SMS based information system. He said that 26 states have also made budgetary provisions keeping in mind the goal of ‘Developed India-Rural India’.
However, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Telangana and Mizoram have been advised to complete this process soon. Chauhan said that he himself will write letters to the Chief Ministers of these states. He also appreciated Mizoram, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh for issuing notifications.
Interim allocation for the states was also announced in the meeting. The highest amount of Rs 12,221.48 crore has been allocated to Uttar Pradesh. After this, Rs 8,508 crore has been given to West Bengal, Rs 7,957.57 crore to Tamil Nadu, Rs 7,707.21 crore to Andhra Pradesh and Rs 7,581.87 crore to Rajasthan. Bihar has received an allocation of Rs 6,715.83 crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs 6,252.03 crore, Karnataka Rs 5,709.09 crore and Maharashtra Rs 4,420.32 crore.
Among the Union Territories, Rs 1,151.02 crore has been given to Jammu and Kashmir, Rs 40.56 crore to Puducherry, Rs 85.98 crore to Ladakh and other Union Territories have also been given funds as per their requirements. Apart from the states and union territories, Rs 1,850.62 crore has been set aside for central administration and social audit.
Shivraj Singh Chauhan clarified that development works will be selected on the basis of suggestions from Gram Panchayats and Gram Sabhas. He also directed that there should not be any reduction or hindrance in employment generation and wage payment under MNREGA till July 1.
–IANS
vku/
