In a suo muto statement in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Union Minister for Rural Development Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh announced the list of 130 districts that will be covered under the next phase of expansion for the rural job guarantee scheme (NREG) during 2007-08.

However, keeping in view the prevailing election code of conduct for assembly elections in UP, the minister did not disclose the name of 17 districts from Uttar Pradesh.

While poor implementers of NREG, including Uttar Pradesh (17 districts) and Bihar (15), has got a better deal than that of Madhya Pradesh (13) and Rajasthan (6), better performing states like Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have to satisfy themselves with only six and three districts respectively. The states of Tamil Nadu (4), Karnataka (6), Kerala (2), and Maharashtra (6) have also got a chance to expand during the next phase. Besides, 23 dsitricts from North-Eastern states have been included for further expansion. Uttarakhand (2), J&K (2), Himachal Pradesh (2), Punjab (3), Haryana (2), Chhatisgarh (4), Jharkhand (2), Orissa (5), West Bengal (7) will also be covered under the expansion scheme.

Prasad told the Parliament that the selection of districts has been done on the basis of criteria agreed upon between the ministry and the Planning Commission. According to the criteria,15 districts have been chosen on the basis of high incidence of farmer suicide rates, while 50 others have been chosen from the list of backward regions grant fund (BRGF) districts.