A V Rajwade / New Delhi February 18, 2008 Advertising for the NREGA on the BBC shows just how mindlessly the programme is being implemented.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme provides for 100 man days of work for a person a year Ariyalur Collector Xavier Chriso Nayagam (right), with students of Meenakshi Ramasami College at Thathanur in Ariyalur district enrolled under NREGP. ARIYALUR: For 200 students of Meenakshi Ramasami College tucked in Thathanur, a nondescript village near Jayamkondam in Ariyalur district,

THE National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is now in its second year. It already covers more than half of rural India

KALGACHIA, Feb 11

Union rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has advised the state governments to ensure conducive environment for the effective implementation of Centrally-sponsored rural employment schemes, like National Rural Employ ment Guarantee Act (NREGA).

A new survey of implementation of the much talked about National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in Manohar Thana tehsil of Jhalawar district in Rajasthan has testified to the effectiveness of the programme in the rural areas. Despite the existence of areas of concern such as delays in payment of wages and even non-payment of minimum wages, the track record, particularly in employment generation, has been impressive, it says.