Make MNREGA a success, say PM, Sonia

Payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) should be made within 15 days, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi stressed that the key to the scheme's success was empowering grassroots level organisations.

Payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) should be made within 15 days, prime minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi stressed that the key to the scheme's success was empowering grassroots level organisations.|

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"In the last six years, we have seen several achievements in the implementation of MNREGA, but there are several challenges before us. The biggest worry is that workers get payment on time," the prime minister said at a conference on MNREGA here.

"For this, there is need for post offices and banks to increase their reach in villages," he said.

The prime minister added that the potential and basic aims of MNREGA had not been fully realised.

Speaking on the occasion, the Congress president said empowering the grassroots level organisations was the key to success of MNREGA and complaints of corruption should be strictly addressed.

"Panchayat plays a big role in the implementation of MNREGA and we need to empower these grassroots organisations," she said.

"Complaints of corruption in this scheme should be seriously addressed."

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh added that the implementation of MNREGA would be reviewed and be given a final shape over the next few weeks.

Enacted in 2005, MNREGA guarantees 100 days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.