Sonia hails success of NREGA

The development of the nation depends on the prosperity of aam aadmi (common man), and UPA government is firm to fulfill the expectation of the people, said United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday while addressing a conference on National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in New Delhi.

To uplift the condition and to meet all fundamental needs of poor, especially the rural people, the UPA government had begun the NREGA programme three years ago and its implementation has proved the critics wrong, added Gandhi.

The NREGA programme was running successfully across the country with the cooperation of Central government, non-government organisations (NGOs) and other sections of the society, Sonia said in the conference that is organised to showcase the success of the rural job scheme.

Appreciating the contribution of NGOs and gram sabha representatives, she said that only on the basis of government machinery, it was not possible to spread awareness of this scheme among masses.

She also praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for implementing the common minimum programme with great efforts and uniformity.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who holds the additional charge of finance, said that government’s foremost priority was to create mass jobs, and through NREGA programme the government had empowered the rural poor and improved their condition.

Rural Development Minister, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who presided the seminar, said that NREGA had benefited to all sections of society including rural women and worked as a tool of poverty alleviation. He also urged the government for approving pension schemes for widows and the disabled.