The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Resolutions passed to bring about amendments to NREG Act

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Resolutions passed to bring about amendments to NREG Act

Special Correspondent

Government urged to amend the Act for increasing wages

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Bringing change: Governor Rameshwar Thakur and Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court P.D. Dinakaran (second from left) at the conference in Bangalore on Saturday.

Bangalore: The two-day regional conference of southern States on the ‘Initiative on supporting the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) through the State Legal Services Authorities’ concluded here on Sunday. It passed three resolutions urging the State Government to amend the Act/rules for raising the minimum wages, replacing some words in them to accommodate more deserving people in the scheme, and involving the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority at all levels of its implementation.

The resolution moved by Justice Nagamohan Das, Judge of the Karnataka High Court, was passed by the conference by a voice vote. He said that words such as ‘household’ and ‘working days’ in the Act have to be amended, so that agricultural workers could also be brought under the scheme. It should also be extended to all departments which have labour component, he added.

Provision required

Justice Das said that there should be provision to provide knowledge support to the village panchayats to identify workers, and involve private agencies to prepare project reports for the works to be taken up at the panchayat levels. To create awareness and reach the benefits of the Act to all the people from the village panchayat to zilla panchayat levels, he said that the KSLSA should be involved.

Earlier, delivering his valedictory address, Governor Rameshwar Thakur said that apart from the NREGS, the Government would also implement the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme, the Jawaharlal Rozgar Yojna and Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojna. But, the benefits of the NREGS had not reached the rural poor, particularly in the State, he added. Mr. Thakur called upon the Government, particularly the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Shobha Karandlaje to give consideration to the suggestions and recommendations of the conference, so that the initiative would be beneficial to the rural unemployed people.

Responsible

Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court P.D. Dinakaran, who presided over the valedictory function said that there was misconception that while the legislature and executive were responsible for implementing welfare measures, the judiciary was to interpret the law and give judgments on the decisions taken by the two. He said that the judiciary was equally responsible for seeing that the constitutional guarantees given to the people, particularly the poor and the weaker sections benefit them.

Duty

On the judicial activism, he said that it was the duty of all the wings of the State to fulfil the aspirations of the common man, reflecting the faith he had reposed in them. If the doors of the judiciary were closed, then there was no role for these wings to play in the constitutional scheme of things.

Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Shobha Karandlaje said that every village panchayat would be appointed with an accounts assistant and a panchayat officer. Already, there was a separate directorate for implementing the NREG Act. She said that private engineers would be involved in preparing project reports for the works to be taken up at the village panchayat level. She said that taluk-level advisory committees with officials in different departments and NGOs would be constituted to monitor implementation of the scheme.

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