The Centre is set to significantly expand the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which the Congress thinks played a key role in its electoral victory. The Rural Development Ministry is working towards increasing the number of days of guaranteed employment under the scheme from the existing 100 days per year.

“We have decided to look into the possibility of further expanding the NREGS since we have been getting several representations to the effect,” said Rural Development Secretary Rita Sharma.

Earlier this month, Rajya Sabha MP and former Reserve Bank of India governor Bimal Jalan had mooted that the number of guaranteed days of employment under the scheme should be increased to 120 from the current 100 days.

“We have set up a task force to study the feasibility and financial impact of increasing the number of work days under the scheme,” Sharma said, adding that even if the number of days is increased, it may not have too much impact on the exchequer “as our experience shows that rural workers seek employment under it only in the agricultural lean season or in drought-prone states”.

In 2008-09, the average duration of employment per household under the NREGS was only 48 days. While workers in Rajasthan were employed for the longest duration under the scheme at an average of 76 days, workers in Kerala sought employment for an average of 22 days — the lowest in the country.

The NREGS, launched by the UPA Government in 2006, guarantees 100 days of wage employment in each fiscal to every household, whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. For 2009-10, the Centre has allocated Rs 30,100 crore for the scheme that currently covers 4.5 crore households. The scheme was expanded to cover all 615 districts in 2008-09. The Congress’s election manifesto promised to further strengthen this flagship programme by providing ‘at least 100 days of work at a real wage of Rs 100 a day for everyone, as an entitlement under the NREGS’.