On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Limiting NREGA work to back-breaking physical labour at less than minimum >>> wage available for a maximum of 100 days a year to only one member of each >>> household ensures that only the most desperately poor sign up for it. > > And not all of it is bad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NREGS_(Kerala)
Random anecdotal evidence. I was in Meghalaya,India visiting the living bridges characterised by a deep valleys and ridges falling off into the Bangladesh plains. The villages of Cherrapunjee and Mawsynram are at the top of these hills and hold the record for most rainfall ever on the planet. The village of Nongriat which is at the bottom of a deep valley was very inaccessible during the rains and was an ardour trek otherwise along steep slopes. NREGA now enabled the locals to build steps down to the deep valley - a demand they had for atleast 3 decades. My guide - a village local - was very appreciative of the NREGA because it provided employment and helped people build something they wanted for years but could not get funded otherwise. As an aside, the living bridges are a wonderful human-nature collaboration. More info and pics here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/vinayakh/sets/72157628879944791/ . Something that should be on every traveller's bucket list. -- Vinayak
