MGNREGA status report | New model for success in Andhra

Updated6 May 2010, 11:43 PM IST

Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh: Anchekatti Rangaswamy, 19, is shifting large rocks from the acres of barren farm land on the outskirts of Yerraguntla, a village 65 km from Kurnool, the gateway to Andhra Pradesh’s drought-prone Rayalaseema region.mobAds

add_main_imageThe work he does during his summer break from college will make the rocky land, belonging to marginal farmers in the area, slightly more cultivable.

M Gopinath Reddy, Professor at the centre for economic and social studies in Hyderabad talks about how implementation of the MGNREGS has taken a unique turn in Andhra Pradesh

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And the wages the teenager will earn from the job under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will go towards realizing his dream of attaining a management degree and becoming a corporate executive.

Click here to view a slideshow about the MNREGS in Andhra Pradesh

“I need at least Rs8,000 for my college fees and books in B.Com last year and I hope to earn at least Rs4,000 during this summer vacation through MGNREGA wages,” says Rangaswamy.fifthMAds

CR Sukumar blogs about how the MGNREGS has redefined aspirations in rural Andhra Pradesh

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Rangaswamy is employed with his mother and relatives in clearing the stretch of 250 acres where the MGNREGA work is being undertaken. Many poor households in the Rayalaseema region, prone to prolonged droughts and plagued by poverty, have benefited from MGNREGA, which offers 100 days of work a year to at least one member of every rural family in the country. seventhMAds

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