Imphal, October 06: On the second day of the three day Bharat Nirman Campaign organised by PIB Imphal and sister organizations at Loyalakpa Laibung, Keinou in Bishnupur District five topics were picked up for discussion. The topics on which deliberations were made by experts were NREGA, Total sanitation programme, rural drinking water supply, RTI and Integrated Child Development Schemes (ICDS).
Today’s campaign started with the welcome address given by Smt. Premlata Loitam, MCO, PIB, Imphal. She said, Bharat Nirman campaign is a very rare campaign which can not be launched at the sweet will of a person or department. One can know a lot about the various programmes and schemes launched by the UPA Government at the centre by attending such rare campaign.
Speaking on the topic NREGA Shri S. Naba Singh ADC Bishnupur said, NREGS which was passed by the Parliament in 2005 became an act in 2007. All the districts in the country have been covered by the NREGA.
He informed the gathering that the number of job card holders in Bishnupur District had reached 36,223. So far Rs two crores had been received from the concerned ministry since inception to pay to the job card holders.
“Prior to launching NREGA the Union Government introduced different schemes for the people living below the poverty line. All these schemes were amalgamated and NREGA emerged, which sees no barrier. All are allowed to get job cards,” he said.
Appealing to the job card holders to keep the cards in their custody he said the card could be used as identity and also in opening bank account without spending a single pie. “But lack of awareness among the job card holders has acted as a draw back. Beneficiaries are keeping their cards in somebody’s custody. That’s not a good trend. The fund released by the Union Government for Bishnupur District dimed set against the funds the other districts in the state were getting. This could be the fall out of the lack of awareness among the people in the district.”
Water harvesting, afforestation, tree plantation, irrigation, land development, renovation of water bodies and rural road connectivity are the areas on which focuss is made by the NREGA, he said. He also said discussions are held at gram panchayat level to decide the nature of work to be done by NREGA workers.
A local young man after listening the speech of the ADC complained that though the Union Government declared that job card holders would get 100 days work the reality is diametric to the declaration. A worker cannot get even 40 days work in a year. Shri Naba replied the matter will be taken up at the higher level.
The soft spoken ADC appealed to the workers not to misconstrue the meaning of job card. This is for those, who can work seriously. A young boy with a small knife, who seeks the shade when he should have gone in the pond to dig will be discouraged from getting NREGA benefits.
The interaction between the ADC and the listeners was heart warming. One man with a job card in hand put questions after questions to the ADC extracting as much informations he could. But on verification of the card it was found that man had committed the mistake of keeping the card in the custody of others. He will not do that again. That’s the benefit given by Bharat Nirman campaign.
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