As the state government proposes to provide one crore work opportunities per day, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) is going to be a major contributor assuring over 50 percent of total jobs being created in Uttar Pradesh.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, while reviewing the Unlock-1 situation here recently, had asked for creation of one crore man-days of jobs per day.
Besides restoration of river as being carried out in neighbouring Barabanki, construction of rural roads, digging of ponds and pits for plantation drives and other such are being carried out under the rural job scheme to provide work to people.
“We have not specified any work to be carried out anywhere. District authorities are taking a call on the work being provided under the MNREGS,” said additional commissioner, MNREGA, Yogesh Kumar.
Arrival of migrant labourers in large numbers in most of the villages has become a major cause of concern for the authorities though the demand for workers under MNREGS has also gone up. If senior officers of rural development department were to be believed, there was a demand for about 80 lakh jobs per day under the MNREGS in Uttar Pradesh.
About 35 lakh migrant labourers have already reached different districts of UP. There are reports that a large number of them have already registered under MNREGA in the past two to three months. “Uttar Pradesh has about 1.80 crore MNREGA job cardholders. Out of them, 85 lakh have been active. About 15 lakh new job cards have been added in the past few months and most of them are migrant labourers,” said Sanjay Dixit, former member of the union government’s central employment guarantee council.
{{/usCountry}}About 35 lakh migrant labourers have already reached different districts of UP. There are reports that a large number of them have already registered under MNREGA in the past two to three months. “Uttar Pradesh has about 1.80 crore MNREGA job cardholders. Out of them, 85 lakh have been active. About 15 lakh new job cards have been added in the past few months and most of them are migrant labourers,” said Sanjay Dixit, former member of the union government’s central employment guarantee council.
{{/usCountry}}The state government is also carrying out an exercise to map the skills of migrant labourers to provide them jobs.
“We are carrying out work on some roads under the MNREGS. This is a big help to people who need work. But there are people who have been doing office jobs before returning to the village. How can they do the MNREGA work and will obviously look for other work,” asked Vijay Kumar, pradhan of Kachnar village in Varanasi.
Asked whether the state government will be able to meet the target of creating 1 crore jobs, chief secretary RK Tiwari appeared optimistic.
“We are roping in all many major departments to provide work in addition to jobs being provided under the MNREGS. The micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) department, public works department, horticulture department and the agencies constructing the expressways will also contribute in a big way in creation of more jobs. We are making efforts to meet the target of creating 1 crore jobs per day,” said Tiwari.