KBC winner Sushil Kumar declared ambassador of rural employment scheme

New Delhi, Nov. 14 (ANI): Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday declared Sushil Kumar, a teacher from Bihar's Motihari District, who recently won Rs. five crore in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), as the ambassador of the country's rural employment scheme.

Ramesh announced this at an event on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) held in New Delhi.

Ramesh, who conferred the title to the KBC winner, said that the scheme could reach out to more people in rural areas of the country with Sushil Kumar's help.

"Sushil Kumar is another good example of a young man who has worked in the MNREGA programme. And we will make use of him in Jharkhand, in Orissa, in Madhya Pradesh, in UP (Uttar Pradesh) to highlight you know what impact MNREGA is having and what better person to speak about MNREGA than Sushil Kumar himself," he said.

Ramesh further said people from the rural areas would identify with Kumar and involve themselves in the anti-poverty scheme that started in 2005 with an aim to provide 100 days of employment every year to tens of millions of rural poor.

Meanwhile, Kumar said that he considered himself to be fortunate enough to be chosen as the face for the anti-poverty scheme and would give in his best to contribute to the scheme and the people.

"I am associated with MNREGA for a very long time and I will be very happy with the work that I would be given because this is a scheme, through which I have seen the hungry getting food and those who did not have clothes were given clothes. I have seen it, I belong from a village where I have seen the benefits of the scheme," said Kumar.

"Since I belong from a very poor family and I have seen those people who have lived in the same conditions as I have, you connect with them. There is empathy with them and I have seen them fight for their rights," he added.

Sushil Kumar, a computer operator and tutor by profession, won the coveted prize last month in game show hosted by veteran Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is an Indian job guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on August 25, 2005. The scheme provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage of 120 per day.

This act was introduced with an aim of improving the purchasing power of the rural people, primarily semi or un-skilled work to people living in rural India, whether or not they are below the poverty line.

The law was initially called the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), but it was renamed on October 2, 2009. (ANI)