The National Democratic Alliance Government has expressed its desire to revamp the pet employment generation scheme of its predecessor, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Overhauling of schemes The Economic Survey said the performance of the different schemes is varied.

“A major revamp/reorganisation of the myriad schemes and convergence of some is needed along with a zero budgeting approach for maximum efficiency gains,” the Survey said. The Survey pointed out that though the Act is panchayat-centric and demand-based, on the ground there is lack of a principal role in planning, execution and monitoring by the Panchayati Raj Institutions, especially the gram sabhas.

“The awareness level in the gram sabha/ panchayati institutions is very low, resulting in a lack of ownership, ill-conceived planning and shelving of projects, and weak or even no social audit,” it said.

The Survey concluded that there is an urgent need to revamp the MGNREGA to prevent its misuse and make it more development-oriented, creating tangible and meaningful assets and infrastructure, including tourism-related facilities and certain agriculture-related activities.

Building assets Meanwhile, former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh asked the Centre to come up with a clear-cut blueprint on its MGNREGA plans.

He said in the Rajya Sabha that Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled State Governments are demanding that the scheme should be stopped.

In this background, the Centre should stop sending out confusing signals on the issue.

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