April 10th 2007
Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has singled out Bihar for not properly implementing the central government's social sector programmes.
Singh, a member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), was talking to newsmen here Tuesday after holding a two-day workshop of district-level officers at Vigyan Bhawan here. The workshop was organised to study the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) that has been enforced in 313 districts in India.Asked about the performance of district-level officers from Bihar, Singh said: "They do not pass. Their results show only 27 percent success. How can I pass them when they have not even achieved 30 percent? They are doing a fraud that is why they cannot go ahead. No good can come of tricks.""We had identified 23 districts in Bihar last year. The officers had announced that they are extending the scheme all over the state. But they have no employment officers."The minister, who hails from Bihar, gave an instance of his village, saying, "When I went to my village, people complained they were not being given job cards. When I asked the village head he said the state government had given him only 50 job cards whereas the demand is for 200. This is a demand-driven scheme and not supply-driven."So far NREGS has been put into effect in 313 districts across the country. Seventeen more districts from Uttar Pradesh will be added to the list after the state's assembly elections are over.Singh said Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are some of the states that have done very well in terms of physical social audit.In terms of utilising the funds allocated for the scheme, Nagaland topped the list by using 89 percent funds, followed by Tripura with 88 percent whereas Maharashtra reported the lowest utilisation with only 39 percent, said a source.
Singh, a member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), was talking to newsmen here Tuesday after holding a two-day workshop of district-level officers at Vigyan Bhawan here. The workshop was organised to study the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) that has been enforced in 313 districts in India.Asked about the performance of district-level officers from Bihar, Singh said: "They do not pass. Their results show only 27 percent success. How can I pass them when they have not even achieved 30 percent? They are doing a fraud that is why they cannot go ahead. No good can come of tricks.""We had identified 23 districts in Bihar last year. The officers had announced that they are extending the scheme all over the state. But they have no employment officers."The minister, who hails from Bihar, gave an instance of his village, saying, "When I went to my village, people complained they were not being given job cards. When I asked the village head he said the state government had given him only 50 job cards whereas the demand is for 200. This is a demand-driven scheme and not supply-driven."So far NREGS has been put into effect in 313 districts across the country. Seventeen more districts from Uttar Pradesh will be added to the list after the state's assembly elections are over.Singh said Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are some of the states that have done very well in terms of physical social audit.In terms of utilising the funds allocated for the scheme, Nagaland topped the list by using 89 percent funds, followed by Tripura with 88 percent whereas Maharashtra reported the lowest utilisation with only 39 percent, said a source.
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