Andhra Pradesh: Job guarantee scheme fails to check exodus

Kurnool: The spirit of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) appears to have been lost with the plan apparently failing to check migration from rural areas.

Migration level has been increasing every passing day in Kurnool district with an estimated 5 lakh people having moved out of the districts till now. Spiralling cost of living and inadequate wages under the NREGS are the main reasons for workers moving to greener pastures in search of better livelihood. The government scheme provides maximum Rs 180 per day. The district average getting daily wage is Rs 111.

The amount is not paid on a daily basis. Elsewhere, wages are higher and are paid on a daily basis. The movement of labourers out of the city is evident at the different bus and railway stations in the districts.

Prevailing drought conditions have adding to the number of migrants with agriculture labour and small farmers joining the crowds. The number of school dropouts, too, is going up with every single family that moves out.

Nearly 5 lakh people have moved out from Kurnool district over the recent past, from Aluru, Pathikonda, Done, Yammiganur, Kodumuru, Adoni, Mantralayam and Panyam constituencies.

Nearly 6,000 students have left along with them. Houses are locked and villages wear a deserted look. Some of villages are nearly empty with the young and able bodied moving to Guntur to work at cotton and chilli farms or to work at industries and construction sites in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bengaluru, Bellary, Mumbai or Delhi.Lack of sufficient work in nearby places is the main reason for the migration despite the NREGS being available.

The government has given jobs cards to nearly 7 lakh wage seekers but only 2.5lakh job card holders use their cards regularly. NREGS Act implementation committee director S. Rama Krishna Reddy said they are ready to provide jobs to wage seekers under NREGS.

But some villagers are not satisfied with small amount like Rs 100 per day, he said. Awareness camps are regularly held to create awareness among people about NREGS still only a few of them have understood and are utilising the government schemes, he said.