Kohima: Aparajita Sarangi, IAS, joint secretary (RE-II), MGNREGA, Ministry of Rural Development today said the Ministry is pumping Rs. 300 crore every year for MGNREGA programme in Nagaland. “This money has to be utilized gainfully at the grassroot to create of durable and sustainable assets,” she said while addressing the inaugural function of MGNREGA convergence workshop and training on operational guidelines & revised schedule here today under the aegis of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India and Department of Rural Development, Government of Nagaland.
She said MGNREGA is much beyond wage employment, adding that it act as strengthening the livelihood resource base of rural poor through creation of productive, durable and sustainable assets with focus on land, water and trees. “We have to talk in term of creating durable assets,” she said and also called for ensuring sustainability of the rural livelihood through MGNREGA.
She said further release of the fund to the state would now depend on the state convergence plan and its effective coverage in the state. Stating that a lot of changes have taken place in regard to MGNREGA, she called upon the line departments and RD officials to properly comprehend the convergence mechanism. The joint secretary stressed on the need to prepare a perspective master plan and at the same time to focus only on workable activities and do well there.
She said that state government shall take concrete steps to achieve effective inter-departmental convergence till the last mile implementation level of the works under the scheme with other government schemes/programmes so as to improve the quality and productivity of assets and bring in synergy to holistically address the multiple dimensions of poverty in a sustainable manner. This programme cannot move in isolation, she said adding that it should have linkage with the relevant departments to achieve the desire results. Observing that the programme under MGNREGA in Nagaland is mostly on rural connectivity, she also stressed on the need to think beyond it and focus on creating more qualitative assets in the villages. She also stressed on the need to focus on water conservation and large scale tree plantation in the state.
Chief secretary Banuo Z. Jamir in her address said our attention should be on rural households not on the programmes. Stressing on the importance of planning at the grass root level, she also called for creating durable assets for progress of the people.
Earlier, the inaugural function was chaired by V. Sakhrie, commissioner & secretary RD while RD director Metsubo Jamir highlighted an overview of the implementation of MGNREGA in Nagaland.
Day 2 (May 8) will be marked by interactive workshop on MGNREGA operational guidelines & revised schedules. The workshop will go on till May 10.
MGNREGA is the first ever law internationally, that guarantees wage employment at an unprecedented scale. It aims at enhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas by providing atleast 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled, manual work. The Ministry of Rural Development recognizes the need of convergence of various schemes for optimal utilization of resources for enhancing the productivity of natural resources and improving the quality of life.
