India to launch rural job scheme.

This is the "Employment guarantee scheme" which was promised by the UPA when it came to power, last year.Could turn out to be a major white elephant, which is expensive and poorly implemented. Also it will divert funds from healthcare , education and infrastructure.

Overall this scheme is a temporary Band-aid rather than an effective surgery to solve our country's chronic unemployment. The infrastructure envisioned to be built - roads, irrigation whatever, is bound to be of poor quality and haphazard.
And given our country's dismal implementation record, lets see how far this goes.
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From the BBCWorldwide Website:

The scheme will target India's 60m rural households
The Indian government is due to launch one of its most ambitious efforts to eradicate rural poverty.
Under the National Rural Guarantee Scheme one member from each of India's 60 million rural households is guaranteed 100 days of work each year.



They will receive a minimum wage of 60 rupees ($1.50) and if that does not work, an unemployment allowance.More than a third of India's population of more than one billion people lives on less than a dollar a day.

The first phase of the programme will cover 200 of the country's poorest and least developed districts.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will launch the scheme in a village in the drought-prone Anantapur district of southern Andhra Pradesh state.
The president of the governing Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, will also be present on the occasion.



The Congress Party swept to power in 2004 after it pledged to improve the conditions of India's poor.

Critics
The programme will be extended to the entire country over the next four years and is being seen as an important effort to curb the migration of villagers to India's overcrowded cities.
The Congress campaign used the scheme in election campaigns

Analysts say this is the most ambitious pro-poor scheme launched by an Indian government, in a country where nearly 70% of the population lives in villages.
People employed by the scheme will work on projects such as building roads, improving rural infrastructure, constructing canals or working on water conservation schemes.

The government says special priority will be given to women.
However, critics say the scheme is too expensive and question whether the government will be able to support it.

They say rather than paying for unskilled manual labour, the government should invest in improving rural infrastructure - especially in health care and education.
Others say there is little transparency, which may lead to red tape and corruption.