Bharuch (Gujarat) [India], September 10 (ANI): Congress workers staged demonstrations in Bharuch and different parts of Gujarat as a part of the 'symbolic bandh' called by the party to protest against inflation and unemployment.

New Delhi [India], August 12 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia launched an attack on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleging that he lied about MNREGA, while also adding that the Aam Aadmi Party chief has "made a record of telling lies".

New Delhi [India], August 7 (ANI): Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday suggested that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) should be implemented in rural areas located near cities and cities with a population of less than 20 thousand.

New Delhi [India], July 27 (ANI): Around 120 crore days of employment were generated so far during the current financial year 2022-23 under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, informed Parliament.

Srinagar Apr 25 PTI More than eight lakh children of Jammu and Kashmir have benefitted from the Mid-Day Meal Scheme the union territory administration said as it was on the course to ease the life of its citizens through the efficient and optimal implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes CSSFrom the days of being under achievers to achieving front-runner status the statistics reveal that the growing population is being significantly covered under the centrally sponsored schemes in JK an officials spokesman said The spokesman said the Mid-day Meal Scheme programme of the Government of India designed to better the nutritional standards of school-age children nationwide over 830 lakh children have been benefitted by this scheme across Jammu and Kashmir Similarly under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan a pioneering programme in the education sector of the country 1588 Information Communication Technology labs 1423 Computer-aided Labs 803 Vocational Labs have been established in JK besides uniforms and textbooks worth Rs 67 crore were provided to 78 lakh children The Scheme is a major catalyst to bridge the digital divide amongst students of various socio-economic and other geographical barriers he said Moreover around 896 lakh beneficiaries were covered under Poshan Abhiyan an overarching umbrella scheme to improve the nutritional outcomes for children pregnant women and lactating mothers to prioritize the efforts of all stakeholders on a comprehensive package of intervention and services targeted on the first 1000 days of a childs life To accord high priority to water conservation and its management 54304 Hectares have been covered under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana PMKSY The scheme has been formulated with the vision of extending the coverage of irrigation Har Khet ko pani and improving water use efficiency More crop per drop in a focused manner with end to end solution on source creation distribution management field application and extension activities Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme MGNREGS a multidimensional programme is providing guaranteed wage employment creating durable assets and strengthening the livelihood resource base of the rural households across the rural people here he said Natural Resource Management and water conservation measures are changing the landscape of rural India The livelihood thrust in MGNREGS has been brought in to raise incomes and improve skills for diversification of earning opportunities of poor households According to the official documents 40538 lakh person-days under the scheme were generated in 2021-22 Jammu and Kashmir was declared the open defecation free ODF and launched the Swachhta Hi Seva a fortnight-long cleanliness campaign for public awareness and involvement of the community At the launch of the Swachhata Hi Seva campaign at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre SKICC JK was self-declared as ODF With the sustained efforts of all the stakeholders Jammu and Kashmir has achieved 100 per cent toilet coverage and became ODF one year in advance All the 22 districts 4171 gram panchayats and 7565 villages in the state are self-declared ODF as per Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen SBM G guidelines An official said that apart from constructing 11 million individual household toilets IHHLs and 1350 community sanitary complexes in JK the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has played a vital role in bringing about behavioural change in the people the spokesman said Moreover 105 projects were completed under Smart City Projects aimed at transforming Jammu and Srinagar into modern sustainable and economically vibrant cities with a dedicated focus on improving infrastructure and services besides increasing mobility he added The ambitious project on completion would strengthen urban infrastructure improve city services public aesthetics ease of living and provide a clean and sustainable environment besides enhance administrative machinery in both the capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar the spokesman said PTI MIJ RCJ

Guwahati Mar 28 PTI Public transport was off the road while services in the banking and other financial institutions were affected in Assam on Monday the first day of the nationwide strike called by central trade unions against various wrong policies of the governmentProtesters belonging to several trade unions were picked up when they tried to start a march in support of the two-day strike from the Guwahati Club point They were later released police said City and long-distance buses cab services auto-rickshaws and other commercial vehicles decided not to ply on the first day of the general strike leaving the commuters in the lurch Banks insurance companies and all other public sector institutional financial establishments remained closed as the employees did not report for their duties Tanker services of various oil companies were also hit as different unions took part in the strike A joint forum of central trade unions has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29 to protest against the government policies affecting workers farmers and people Their demands include the scrapping of the labour codes no privatisation in any form scrapping of the National Monetisation Pipeline NMP increased allocation of wages under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and regularisation of contract workers The central trade unions that are part of this joint forum are INTUC AITUC HMS CITU AIUTUC TUCC SEWA AICCTU LPF and UTUC The strike notices have been given by the unions in various sectors including coal steel oil telecom postal income tax copper banks and insurance PTI TR NN NN

New Delhi [India], March 22 (ANI): This World Water Day, researchers from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) have stressed the need for judicious use of water as climate change has already started affecting water access for people around the world.

New Delhi [India], January 31 (ANI): FICCI Vice President Subhrakant Panda on Monday said that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) outlay should be increased and support to MSMEs must be provided in the Union Budget.

Panaji (Goa) [India], October 30 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who was on a day-long visit to poll-bound Goa on Saturday alleged the BJP-led government in Centre is "attacking" small and medium businesses and empowering 'richest' businessmen.

New Delhi Oct 30 PTI A group of activists has flagged an acute shortage of funds under the rural employment guarantee programme MGNREGA despite a pandemic-induced surge in demand for work and said almost 90 per cent of the allocated budget has been used up with five months remaining of the financial year The Rural Development Ministry on Saturday said the government is committed to release funds for wage and material payments for proper implementation of the programme and added that whenever additional fund is required the Ministry of Finance is requested to provide it Underlining that the Centres flagship rural employment guarantee programme is a lifeline for millions of rural poor especially in times of the COVID-19 pandemic the Peoples Action for Employment Guarantee PAEG in a statement on Friday said the total budget for it in 2021-22 is 34 per cent less than that of the previous year PAEG is a group of the activists who were earlier members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council a statutory body under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act MGNREGA In the Union Budget presented earlier this year the government allocated Rs 73000 crore to the scheme for financial year 2021-22 It was 34 per cent less than the 2020-21 revised estimate of Rs 111 lakh crore In the previous financial year the Centre had revised the allocation to Rs 111 lakh crore from an initial allocation of Rs 61500 crore PAEG working group member Nikhil Dey said the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the resultant lockdowns have had an unprecedented impact on workers across the country As a result during the first wave in 2020 millions of rural poor turned to MGNREGA in historically high numbers since it was the only source of a basic income security A total of 775 crore households were provided work in the financial year 2020-21 Dey said However the Centre in this fiscal reduced the fund allocation to MGNREGA despite the evident importance of it during the first wave and the devastating economic impact of the second wave Sharing the details based on data from the NREGA Management Information System MIS Dey said Almost 90 per cent of the allocated budget for the year has been used up till now with five months of the programme still remaining The remaining funds can cover at most 13 days of employment per household for the rest of the year he further said Dey said 13 per cent of the total households that demanded employment did not get employment and only around two per cent completed 100 days of employment In a statement on Saturday the Ministry of Rural Development which is the nodal ministry for MGNREGA said the government is committed to release funds for wage and material payments for proper implementation of the scheme A total of more than six crore households have got wage employment during the current financial year against their demand Employment has been offered to 9963 per cent of the total demand of wage employment and against the offer of employment a total of 8735 per cent of beneficiaries has turned up for work as per their will it said Fund release towards wage and material is a continuous process the ministry said adding Currently Rs 8921 crore funds are available which can meet the wage liability equal to this current availability The Centre is committed to release funds for wage and material payments for proper implementation of the scheme as per the provisions of the Act and guidelines applicable for the central government as well as state governments Whenever additional fund is required the Ministry of Finance is requested to provide the funds In the previous financial year the Ministry of Finance allocated Rs 50000 crore additional funds for the scheme over and above that of BE budget estimate it said MGNREGA is a demand-driven employment scheme Not less than 100 days of employment is provided to registered workers upon receipt of their demand These workers are given job cards which are linked with their Aadhaar numbers and bank accounts It provides supplementary means of livelihood to people in rural areas primarily during lean periods The Centre has also announced additional employment over and above 100 days per household to up to 150 days in notified drought-affected districts in various states of the country Assets created under the programme include works related to natural resource management such as water conservation land development and irrigation Besides these dams irrigation channels check dams ponds wells and anganwadis are also built under the scheme PTI JTR SMN SMN