The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme’s (MGNREGS) labour budget for the State for the financial year 2022-23 was approved in a meeting of the employment guarantee council chaired by Minister for Local Self Governments M.V.Govindan on Monday.
The budget passed by the council will be submitted to the Union Government for final approval. The three-tier panchayats have been asked to go ahead with the planned activities as per the guidelines in the master circular issued by the Union Government. Compared to the works usually taken up under the scheme, the focus this year is on building various assets including village markets, worksheds for self-help groups, ponds for agricultural needs, compost pits for waste management, soak pits for solid waste management, material collection facilities and cattlesheds. Both skilled and semi-skilled labourers will be used for these activities. Training is being provided to select workers under the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), with an aim to impart various skills to workers.The State mission plans to train at least 100 workers in each panchayat in this manner to turn them into skilled labourers. Labour banks will be formed at the local level using them. They will have the opportunity to be a part of various asset creation activities being taken up under the MGNREGS and get higher wages of ₹700 to ₹1200 as skilled labourers. They will also be deployed for various plan projects under the local bodies thus aiding in the speeding up of project implementation.The MGNREGS workers will also be used for activities to protect the environment, post-flood restoration works, construction of individual assets and agricultural production. The MGNREGS works will be combined with projects of the various departments including water resources, animal husbandry, agriculture and forest. Mr.Govindan said that the MGNREGS projects for next year should be prepared by considering possibilities of combining with other departments.
