The NREG Scheme, India’s flagship welfare initiative, promises at least 100 days of work in a year to one member of a poor rural family. In the 2008 Budget, the programme was extended to all 596 districts. Four-fifths of jobs created under NREGS are in the area of water conservation, land development and drought-proofing.
Now the government has decided that such jobs must be lined to productivity - currently some States are creating the jobs but getting little useful and productive work from them ... they thus become a form of charity ... and become unsustainable.
The scheme can be effective but only if implemented properly, as you said giving away wages without getting work done has sustainability issues and is also a waste of taxpayer’s money. It would be a good idea to use this scheme to create a better rural infrastructure which can provide employment and also help in long term development. We at Mahindra consider sustainability to be one of our primary objectives.
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