NREGS has 42 per cent woman beneficiaries: Raghuvansh Prasad

New Delhi, Apr 30 (UNI) Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh today said the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) Scheme had generated 42 per cent participation from women against the national average of 33 per cent for other schemes.

He said this while replying to a query during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha regarding low participation of women from the Northeast in the developmental schemes.

Stating that while he was happy to note the involvement of women as borne out by figures, their numbers might be more or less in specific districts or states.

He said anybody willing to work under the NREGS which involved manual work would be employed without discrimination.

Replying to another question by Ms Jayanthi Natarajan (INC) about whether training was being imparted to women panchayati raj participants, the minister said there was no proposal to impart training separately. However, he could not foresee difficulties in doing so as the ministry aimed to build capacity which was key to the successful implementation of the programme.

Regarding a query about detecting misuse of the NREGS funds, Mr Singh said so far, 22 complaints had been received which were being investigated. The ministry was keeping alert and had adopted an attitude of zero tolerance in this matter.

He asked the MPs to pass on information of any irregularities to the ministry.

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