© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Amid Opposition allegations of failure to provide the promised 100-day job guarantee under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Tripura, Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said Tuesday the state government has successfully implemented 90 per cent of the allocated funds under the central scheme.
The CPI(M) has alleged that while flagship schemes like NREGA performed brilliantly under the previous Left regime, it is now facing budget reduction and that people in the villages are facing crises of food and work under the current BJP rule.
Speaking to reporters during her visit to Tripura, the Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said she has done a comprehensive review of the implementation of all centrally sponsored schemes in the state and found that it had significantly curtained rural-urban migration by promoting employment opportunities in the villages.
Stating that India’s Northeast has received benefits of substantial development since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over in 2014, Jyoti said all central ministers were mandated to visit the region, and ensure regular review of developmental activities and implementation of central schemes.
“PM Modi himself visited Northeast India over 50 times in the last nine years and that brought up a transformative change in the development of the region,” she said.
Citing activities of Self Help Groups (SHG) in Tripura, the Union minister said 74 SHGs were operational in the state before 2014, which now have surged to 4,78,986. All of them are run by women and have emerged as centres of self-employment with significant roles in the local economy, she also pointed out.
She said a similar trend is visible nationally as well with the number of SHGs rising from 2.5 crore in 2014 to 9.5 crore currently.
Lauding PM Modi for his initiatives, the minister said his initiatives have facilitated higher women participation in different sectors, including banking, and said a slew of ambitious programmes and schemes like One Nation, One Ration Card, Jan Dhan Accounts, sanitation, and Amrit Sarovar among others have served as a unifying factor for the country.
She also said India has had a significant shift in global influence under PM Modi’s stewardship and stated that the country now commands a voice that the world listens to.
