More bang for the Buck
Abstract:
Economic reforms that helped produce sustained rapid growth during the last two decades have cut the proportion of the rural population living below the poverty line from 46 per cent in 1983 to 28 per cent in 2004-05. Nevertheless, 4.4 crore households (assuming five members per household) in rural India still live in abject poverty and must be provided relief while the growth process works its way to pull them out of poverty as well. This is the spirit in which the government launched the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in February 2006. The scheme guarantees 100 days of employment to one adult in each rural household at the statutory minimum wage.