Agartala, Apr 9: Left-ruled Tripura provided 86.27 days of work under the central government's flagship rural jobs scheme in fiscal 2012-13, the highest in the country, a minister said here Tuesday.
Quoting the performance report of the union rural development ministry, state Rural Development Minister Jitendra Chaudhury told reporters that Tripura has been providing the highest average employment for the past four years under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The MGNREGA mandates 100 days of employment in a financial year to one member of each rural household.
According to the rural development ministry's performance report, the national average of jobs created in the last fiscal was 39 days and 42 days in 2011-12.
"Tripura retained the top position since 2009-10 fiscal in terms of person-days generation. In the 2012-13 financial year Tripura provided 86.27 person-days, highest in the country, followed by Mizoram (69.25 person-days), Tamil Nadu (51.26) and Andhra Pradesh (49.61)," Chaudhury said citing the central government report.
He said other states in the top 10 in terms of person-days include Maharashtra (48.52), Sikkim (47.69), Andaman and Nicobar (47.02), Kerala (45.34), Rajasthan (44.46) and Himachal Pradesh (43.44).
The minister said that Tripura could improve further in terms of creation of person-days of work if there were no administrative problems in view of the Feb 14 assembly polls.
He said Tripura has also in the leading position in the country in participation of women and tribals in MGNREGA with percentages of 41 percent and 43 percent respectively.
The minister said Tripura has also expected a rise in its allocation for the current fiscal for MGNREGA, which first introduced in the state in only one district (Dhalai district) in 2006 followed by remaining seven districts.
Tripura government is providing wages to MGNREGA workers at their door steps through business correspondents engaged by various nationalised and regional rural banks, he said.
