50 lakh have got jobs under work guarantee scheme: Jairam

New Delhi, May 26: As many as 50 lakh unemployed -- 60 per cent of them women -- have received work under various developmental projects out of the one-and-a-half crore people issued Job Cards under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) being implemented in the 200 most backward districts of the country.

A total of Rs 3800 crores have been spent on the scheme, which began three months ago, until now, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said, speaking at the Convention of DCC presidents, held here to reveiw the progress of the NREGS.

A job card is issued to each houselhold on demand for a period of five years for work involving water conservation, land reclaimation and anti-drought operations, he added.

Mr Ramesh, who is also a member of the National Advisory Council, however, noted the present expanse of the scheme, which would cover the entire country in course of time, comprised areas, which were naxalite-affected. Each district implementing the scheme would be getting Rs 15 crore extra from the Grants Fund over and above what it would get for the employment guarantee scheme.

This adds up to a total of Rs 60 to 70 crores, he added.

He said it should be seen that contractors are not engaged in the development work where unemployed are being enganged. Care should also be taken that those demanding work put in a written application.

However, Mr Ramesh charged opposition-ruled states with not implementing NREGS properly, giving the scheme a different name by removing the word 'national' from its name and putting in the state's name instead. The minimum wages being paid to the beneficiaries were also much below the prescribed rate, he claimed.

UNI