In 2007, the International Labour Organization (ILO) arrived at a consensus on fishing rights and the same year a conventional called

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Kalulal Gujjar on Thursday claimed that the Centre had given "top ranking' to the State in implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The Centre has reportedly given 82.86 marks on a scale of 100 to Rajasthan in an inter-State ranking exercise.

Sandip Das Launched in February 2006, UPA government's mega National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which for the first time guaranteed 100 days of manual labour to each rural household, continue to make news for all the right as well as wrong reasons. Initially launched in the 200 backward districts as identified by the Planning Commission, the impact of NREGA has been a mixed bag.

With the support of community participation, Environ, a city-based environmental NGO, is planning to make the recycling of plastic more productive in terms of employment generation and pollution control. Plastic waste, often occupying a considerable space in any household, and also a prime cause of flash flood in the city, can now even help

The district authorities today decided to launch a special campaign to issue job cards to villagers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The authorities have also announced that work on 30 projects will begin in 30 of the 240 villages in the district on June 10. The Tribune had carried a story - "Employment Guarantee Scheme: Getting job cards not easy for villagers' in these columns today. The Tribune had highlighted the problems being faced by villagers in the district, where of the 25,000-odd aspirants, only 1,677 had been able to get job cards.

Owing to ignorance on the part of poor villagers and lack of interest being shown by nationalised and cooperative banks, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is facing a rough weather in the district despite more than two months of its implementation on paper. Of the 25,000-odd poor families who have shown interest in getting employment under this scheme and actually procured application forms from the authorities, only 1,677 have so far been able to get job cards, which are a prerequisite for demanding job under the scheme.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was launched in North Tripura with job cards to 30 families of Hirachhara and Golakpur village under tribal area autonomous district council as the first step of NREGA execution in the localities. An official release here today said at a formal ceremony at Srirampur HS School ground yesterday, venue of Bharat Nirman Campaign of Ministry of Broadcasting, the Government handed over the job cards to the selected beneficiaries.

Two months down the line and Goan unemployed youths may still be waiting for a guaranteed job under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. But, introduced in April last, the Rural Development Agencies of both North and South districts are putting in place the logistics required to ensure the scheme takes off without much difficulty.

P. Sainath The NREGA is having multiple and layered effects. With better wages, the bargaining power of the weakest has gone up a notch. Lakshmamma hopes the NREG work will continue. But she's up against a powerful combine of forces entrenched in the countryside and ensconced in Delhi's power elite. "Why can't they keep the schools open during summer,' asks P. Somamma in Mosangi. A strange question, with the mercury blazing past 43 Celsius in the Nalgonda village and all of us cowering in the little shade we can find.

Concerned over the dismal performance of banks in giving credits to self-help groups (SHGs) under the poverty alleviation programme, Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY), the Ministry of Rural Development has set up a committee to suggest measures to overhaul the scheme. R Radhakrishnan, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, has been appointed as chairman of the committee, which is expected to submit its report in July. Radhakrishnan had earlier headed an expert group on agricultural indebtedness.