Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 6 (IANS) Financial allocation for the rural job guarantee scheme MGNREGS will be increased in the new fiscal, union Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said Tuesday.
This was the second meeting on the issue and the third and final will take place in Patna later this month, he told reporters here, after a meeting with six state ministers.
"Once that (meeting) is over, we will look into all the suggestions that have been made and would look at what needs to be done to make it better. For this fiscal year, Rs.34,000 crore was set aside for the scheme and for the next fiscal this will go up further," he said.
He also said that more departments, including agriculture, irrigation and forestry, will be linked to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to make it more effective.
"The ministers put forward their requests. While some of them spoke about modifying the scheme to make it more flexible, others requested to increase the present 60:40 labour to material component to create quality assets," he said.
The rural development minister ruled out speculations that the total number of blocks that this programme cover would be reduced.
"Nothing of that sort (reduction) will happen. About 2,500 blocks in the country, where development is suffering, will get more attention. The remaining 4,000 blocks would run this programme as it is," he said.
Kerala Minister for Rural Development K.C. Joseph said this was for the first time since the scheme was launched that the central government had given a positive response.
"We have put forward that the scheme should have changes to include segments like animal husbandry, and traditional industries like handloom and coir. Not only can employment be generated through the scheme but also the production in these sectors," said Joseph.
MGNREGS has seen about Rs.2,000 crore being pumped into Kerala in the past three years.
Indian Railways Holi Special Trains: Indian Railways has announced to run more Holi special trains for the convenience of the passengers, know the details of these trains
Indian Railways Holi Special: On the occasion of the Holi festival, some more Holi special trains are going to be operated by the Railways. Many of these vehicles are being run from Mumbai so that
President Calls for Increasing Trade with Myanmar
New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee, in a meeting with Vice President of Myanmar Sai Mauk Kham, called for increasing bilateral trade between the two countries, an official
Natasa Stankovic: After coming to Mumbai, Natasha was seen with her friend Alexander Alex, fans said- she should be happy
Natasha Stankovic and Hardik Pandya split after announcing their divorce in July this year. Meanwhile, the latter sparked dating rumors with British singer Jasmine Walia. Natasha recently made
Disqualification of four rebel JD-U legislators quashed
Patna, Jan 6 (IANS) In a major setback to Bihar's ruling JD-U, the Patna High Court Tuesday quashed the state assembly speaker's decision to terminate membership of four rebel party
Ukraine War: 10 million people in Ukraine were forced to live without electricity after Russia's attack
Russia has once again intensified missile attacks on Ukraine. Russia once again targeted Ukraine's energy plants on Thursday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that some 10 million people in
Relief for unmasked China in Kabul, 10 Chinese spies were forgiven by the Afghan government secretly, returned home from a chartered plane
Due to the incident which was about to replace China in the whole world, now the dragon has got great relief in that. The Afghan government has secretly granted amnesty to the 10 Chinese nationals
Assam Vidhan Sabha Chunav 2021: PM Modi said - people of Assam with development, peace, and brotherhood
New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached Tamulpur on an election tour of Assam. PM Modi is addressing a public meeting here. During this, PM Modi said that after these two steps people have
Champions Trophy: 'I am not retiring from ODIs, please do not spread rumours', captain Rohit's reply to critics
After winning the ICC Champions Trophy for the third time by defeating New Zealand by four wickets here on Sunday, Indian captain Rohit Sharma said that it is a great feeling to have the result in
Court summons Moin Qureshi for dodging tax
New Delhi, Jan 30 (IANS) A court here Friday issued summons to Moin Ahmed Qureshi in a case filed by the Income Tax Department for allegedly not disclosing his income of nearly Rs.20 crore and
Battlegrounds Mobile India launch date revealed, may be launched on this date
The launch of PUBG's new avatar Battlegrounds Mobile India has reached near. New updates are coming out about this game. Even though the company has not officially announced the launch date of this
