News Highlight
Facing less than a half-hearted response to project Unnati, the Ministry wants to link the performances of the States under the project with its labour budget for the next financial year.
Key Takeaway
- Since Project Unnati’s inception in 2020, just over 25,000 persons have been trained under the project, falling far short of its target of two lakh.
Project Unnati
- About
- It is a skilling project intended to upgrade the skill base of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA beneficiaries.
- Ministry
- Ministry of Rural Development
- Aims
- This project is meant to provide training for one adult member (18-45 years old) of a household who has completed 100 days of work under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in the previous financial year from the year of commencement of the project.
- Objective
- It will improve livelihoods so that the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA beneficiaries can move from their current partial employment to full-time employment, reducing their dependence on Mahatma Gandhi NREGS.
- Features
- The candidates selected from the household for the training continue to enjoy 100 days of work under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA.
- The candidates undergoing training are paid a stipend for a maximum period of 100 days and one program per household as per the wage rate prevailing in the concerned State/UT as per the provisions of the project.
- Total expenditures towards a stipend, against wage loss compensation, are entirely borne by the Central Government.
- Significance
- The whole purpose of the project is to connect rural people to various available livelihood opportunities and lead them to self-reliance and sustainable development.
- It is improving the livelihoods of the neediest Mahatma Gandhi NREGA beneficiaries by providing a skill for self-employment or wage employment.
MGNREGA
- About
- The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
- MGNREGA is a law enacted in 2005.
- Ministry
- Ministry of Rural Development
- Key features
- MGNREGA guarantees a hundred days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
- Individual beneficiary-oriented works can be taken up on the cards of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, small or marginal farmers or beneficiaries of land reforms or beneficiaries under the Indira Awaas Yojana of the Government of India.
- Within 15 days of applying or from the day work is demanded, wage employment will be provided to the applicant.
- Right to get unemployment allowance in case employment is not provided within fifteen days of applying or from the date when work is sought.
- The Gram Panchayats can take up a variety of permissible works.
- MGNREGA focuses on the economic and social empowerment of women.
- A social audit of MGNREGA works is mandatory, which lends to accountability and transparency.
- MGNREGA works to address the vulnerability of climate change, protect farmers from such risks, and conserve natural resources.
- The Gram Sabha is the principal forum for wage seekers to raise their voices and make demands. The Gram Sabha and the Gram Panchayat approve the shelf of works under MGNREGA and fix their priority.
- Activities covered
- Watershed,
- Irrigation and Flood management works,
- Agricultural and Livestock related works,
- Fisheries and work in coastal areas
- The Rural Drinking water and
- Sanitation-related works.
Content Source: The Hindu