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New Delhi: India’s Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the historic quote that only 15 paisa goes to the poor is disproved by the effective reach of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).© India Resource Center

“Wages for NREGA works now go directly into 1.4 crore bank accounts belonging to the workers. However, there is a need to counter the myths propagated by the anti-poor, anti-rural lobby in the country to ensure that NREGA succeeds,” he said.

The minister was speaking to over 100 civil society representatives at a national consultation on NREGA organised by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (Keep Your Promises Campaign), a national coalition of over 3,000 NGOs and networks tracking the government’s flagship schemes on the ground.

“The consultation brings together practitioners to share what works on the ground, what the main challenges are and the ‘best practices’ that can be taken up by the government,” said K.S. Gopal, a livelihood expert, Wada Na Todo Abhiyan.

Participants urged the government to increase investments for the functioning of and capacity building of gram sabhas for proper implementation and effective monitoring of the programme. The minister acknowledged that people’s participation in planning and pro-active role of gram sabhas is key to the programme.

“Whether it is the creation of long term assets at the village level, the development of land belonging to Scheduled Tribes or Scheduled Castes or the increased demand for work, the first phase of NREGA has been successful and our work now is to strengthen these outcomes in the second phase,” said Singh.

Reinforcing this argument, social activist Aruna Roy stated that NREGA has increased the bargaining power of the poorest of the poor at every stage – from demanding a job card to ensuring legitimate wages for work. The control of distress migration in villages is another significant outcome that has been achieved through NREGA.

She, however, pointed out the need for civil society groups to work actively with local panchayats to ensure that elderly workers, disabled persons and nomadic tribes who do not fall in the ambit of the scheme, are also included.

Researcher Deepak Xavier from the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability shared that NREGA has been able to generate more employment in a single year than the major poverty alleviation schemes have been able to generate in five years.

In 2005-06, NREGA was able to generate 90.4 crore days of work in 200 districts, while both SGRY and NFFWP put together have been able to generate only 83.3 work days across 586 districts between 2001-06.

Challenging the veracity of the criticism that has been leveled against the scheme, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that across the country NREGA has unleashed a silent revolution by forcing the government and private employers to provide minimum wages to the poorest of the poor, which no other government has been able to ensure since independence.

For further details, please contact:

Pasang Lepcha Mobile: 9810745404 Email:

Deepak Xavier Mobile: 9910268102

K.S. Gopal Mobile: 9848127794

Wada-Na-Todo-Abhiyan C-1/E, 2nd Floor, Green Park Ext., New Delhi 110016

Tel: 91-11-46082371 to 74

Source: Wada Na Todo Abhiyan