NREGS is doing extremely well in majority of States: Montek

New Delhi, Sep 1 (UNI) Clearing doubts relating to his remarks about performance of the UPA government's flagship programme National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said it was doing ''extremely well'' in majority of the States.

''In totality, NREGS is doing extremely well. It is generating three times more employment than all other schemes together used to do in rural areas,'' Dr Ahulwalia told reporters on the sidelines of a book release function in Planning Commission.

He, however, said the effectiveness of the scheme varies from place to place.

Lauding the scheme, Dr Ahluwalia said it had ''less leakages and more transparency.'' Reports said Dr Ahluwalia in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had expressed concern over the implementation of the scheme in certain areas.

Dr Ahluwalia earlier released the book titled, 'Corporate Social Responsibility in India: Past, Present and Future' by Mr S K Panda, an IAS officer.

Regarding inflation, Dr Ahluwalia said it would moderate to single digit by the end of the current fiscal.

''I do visualise that inflation will be single digit by the end of the current fiscal,'' he said.

Dr Ahluwalia said lower prices would result from higher growth rate in agriculture, poised to grow at three per cent in the current fiscal, declining prices of commodities in the global market, and administrative and monetary measures taken recently by the government.

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