NEW DELHI: Keeping an eye on the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the UPA government is considering to raise the workdays under its ambitious rural employment guarantee programme- MNREGA- from 100 to 150 days per year for forest dwellers and tribals.
The Union Cabinet on Friday will consider the proposal for additional 50 days of employment to beneficiaries who have been granted land titles under The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006.
The caveat is that these beneficiaries don’t own any other private land and have completed 100 days of work under the MNREGA scheme.
As per estimates, around 1.56 lakh beneficiaries under the forest rights act would be able to avail the benefit.
Under the programme, one member of each rural family is entitled to 100 days of work per year with remuneration of Rs 100 plus an amount linked to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The flagship programme generated 23040 lakh person days of work in 2012-13.