Indian Government says distress migration receded in Orissa

Bhubaneswar: The union Rural Development ministery on thursday told that the Distress migration in different parts of Orissa has notebly decreased after the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA),

Addressing a round table conference on collaboration with Universities, Technological and Management Institutes organized by the Rural Development Ministry in NewDelhi, the Union Rural Development Minister Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the initial positive trends shows an enhancement in the wage security and productivity of rural masses as the distress migration has receded in the States of Orissa, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Since the commencement of the NREGA implementation in the country in the 1st phase(2006-07) 2.10 crore households were provided employment. This figure rose to 3.39 crore house holds in 2007-08 and upto June 2008 this year (2008-09) 2.11 crore house holds have been provided employment. Compared to the 90.50 crore persondays employment in 2006-07 and 143.59 crore persondays employment in 2007-08, 67.64 crore persondays of employment has been generated up to June 2008 this year, informed the Minister.

The Minister said the direct benefits of NREGA to Agriculture has been noticed as the increase in productivity through the creation of permanent assets for water harvesting, check dams, ground water recharging, improve moisture content, micro-irrigation, check in . This has also resulted in the increased labor availability by curtailing distress migration. The indirect benefits of NREGA implementation are improved inputs through augmenting income of cultivators and increased access to markets and services through rural connectivity networks, Dr. Singh added.
 
 He also urged the intellectuals and eminent scholars working in the leading educational institutions across the country to come forward and usher in the NREGA implementation process. The minister said, the main task of the intellectuals in this regard is to generate proper awareness.

The eminent participants in the round table were from more than 20 Universities and Technological and Management institutes from all over the country.