New Delhi: Vice President M Hamid Ansari
on Wednesday said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act (NREGA) has been a "game-changer" in the
governance of the country.
The primary objective of improving wage employment
through the flagship programme is being achieved with "some
success", Ansari said.
"Equally important are the auxiliary objectives of
improving natural resource management, promoting equity and
gender equality across communities, bringing about financial
inclusion and insurance coverage and using technology at the
rural level for improved governance," he said adding that
government was committed to ensure these objectives.
Ansari was addressing a function here after releasing
a report on 'Management of National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme: Issues and Challenges', published by Lal Bahadur
Shastri Institute of Management.
NREGA "itself has been a game-changer in the governance
of the country," Ansari said, underlining that it has for the
first time, both nationally and internationally, articulated a
rights-based approach to guaranteeing wage employment at such
a vast scale.
He said the Act was a step in empowering rural citizens
to steer their own destiny and ensuring that development
processes are not only sustainable but also in consonance with
the aspirations and desires of citizens.
"Like all programmes, the implementation of the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 is a
work-in-progress," he said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, February 03, 2010, 20:46