Residents of Rajouri have employment locally with MNREGA

Rajouri, Dec 22 (ANI): With the employment awarded to them under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme, residents in Rajouri District of Kashmir are happy that with the implementation of this scheme, they have found work in their own district.

They said that they are now saved from the trouble of traveling to other states in search of employment.

"Since this scheme NREGA has started, lots of people have come forward and participated in the scheme. Most labourers started working locally and today NREGA has provided employment to every household and people were saved from going to find work in Katra or Shimla," said Shaqbir Ahmed, a resident.

The most significant gainers of the scheme were the women, as they have got the opportunity to break the social shackles of male dependency and be self-dependant.

"There was once a time when women were not allowed to step out of the house and women were not independent. Men had the responsibility of taking care of all the needs of women. Women were completely dependant on men. But now the times have changed and women are working in NREGA, they are getting good rewards for there labour and now the participation of women has increased from men," Ahmed added.

Under the programme, any villager can go to a nearby government office and enroll for building roads, digging wells or creating other rural infrastructure and be paid the minimum wage for 100 days a year.

The income has helped improve food intake and reduce child labour, especially at times when crops fail or prices shoot up. The consumption of food commodities has increased in the rural areas as new markets have emerged and shored up growth when investment had faltered.

Costing one percent of the GDP, the MNREGA is the largest of India's welfare schemes designed to protect the country's 500 million poor who live on less than 1.25 dollars a day. (ANI)