Deputy commissioner Devesh Kumar received a national award on behalf of Mandi district for maximum participation and empowerment of rural women in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) for the year 2011-12, at New Delhi on Saturday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh handed over the memento to Kumar at a function at New Delhi.
A total of Rs. 130 crore was spent under MNREGA during the 2011-12 financial year in Mandi, and women's participation remained 75% in the district against 48% at national level.
Nearly 93,000 bank accounts of rural women were opened in different banks during 2011-12 and money, the women earned through MNREGA, was directly deposited in their accounts in the district.
On the award ceremony at New Delhi, the Prime Minister, while observing that MNREGA has brought about "financial inclusion" of rural population, expressed confidence that the bank and post office accounts opened under the central scheme would assist the government in providing direct cash transfers to the people in the whole country.
Congress party president Sonia Gandhi said on the occasion that MNREGA had brought momentum in the financial inclusion of rural population and she was of the belief that MNREGA had tremendous potential to increase the agriculture production.