The UPA government has refused to raise the number of job days that it provides under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) though it would allow an extra 50 days employment in drought-hit regions on a case-to-case basis from a separate fund.

Last month, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) decided that “up to 50 days of extra employment should be given in the drought affected areas from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF)” after the Ministry of Rural Development objected that the Act fixed the employment cap at 100 days.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had been pushing for a temporary raise in the number of job days to compensate rural India for income loss due to a poor monsoon in a large part of the country. But the proposal before the EGoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was “enhancement in the number of days of employment beyond 100 days under NREG”. The MoRD objected to an all-round increase as none of the states had provided more than 50 days of employment since it was started in February 2006.

As a special dispensation, the ministry told the EGoM that a drought-affected state could approach the Centre for more money from NCCF for providing more working days in certain pockets provided it had exhausted the NREG limit there. The request would be subject to scrutiny by an inter-ministerial central team which would visit the spot and report for consideration of the High Level Committee headed by Finance Minister and comprising Home Minister, Agriculture Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, it said.