Anantapur district provided 64.96 person-days (mandays) on an average in the 2020-21 financial year under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), as per the data available on the NREGS website till March 28.
While the State government aims at providing 100 mandays for all, the district could on average provide only 64.96 person-days during the 2020-21 financial year for 5,87,530 job-card holders in 4,21,740 households. It had given scope to 7,63,349 individuals from those households during the COVID pandemic to work under the NREGS. The total amount spent under the scheme was ₹231.54 crore with a wage component of 68.74% and a material component of 31.26%.
Two of the first job card holders in Bandlapalli village, where the scheme was first launched in the district in 2006, continue to benefit from the scheme and are active workers even today.
A field visit to Bandlapalli by The Hindu on Monday showed that the entire village was wrapping up all its agricultural activity as early as possible. From April 1 when the new mandays under the NREGS get accrued for the about 777 job-card holders, the availability of manpower for the agricultural activity becomes difficult as the majority prefer NREGS works.
Last year data
Cheemala Peddakka, the first person to get a job card, had utilised it for 100 days along with others from their family with ₹231.23 average per day wage, but the other woman, Akuleti Gangamma(55), could use only 57 person-days as of March 28 with an average wage of ₹229.89.
In the last fiscal year too, both of them had used 100 days and 47 days respectively. Both received their job-cards from the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006.
While Ms. Peddakka stays along with her two sons and daughter-in-law with 3 job-cards and has a small agricultural land, Ms. Gangamma has no family and is an agricultural labourer engaging herself wherever an opportunity arises.
“I am indebted to the NREGS scheme as it significantly enhanced my daily wage amount for any work and today I am in a position to save some money for my old-age,” Ms. Gangamma said while plucking green chillies in a field.
