Central Employment Guarantee Council to meet on Feb 22

The Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC), which is mandated to establish a central evaluation and monitoring system for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), will hold a meeting here on February 22.

This will be the third meeting of the newly-constituted CEGC since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government returned to power in May, 2009.

The previous two meetings in August and October, 2009 discussed at length issues related to the adminstrative and technical capacity-building under the NREGA.

The CEGC includes representatives from the Central Government and the State Governments, Panchayati Raj institutions, organisations of workers and disadvantaged groups and women's groups and members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Castes and minorities.

The committee is also mandated to advise the Government on all matters concerning the implementation of the NREGA, review the monitoring and grievance redressal mechanism from time to time and recommend improvements required and promote the widest possible dissemination of information about the Schemes made under this Act.

It is also supposed to monitor the implementation of the Act and prepare annual reports to be laid before Parliament by the Central Government on the implementation of this Act.

In addition it is authorized to have the power to undertake evaluation of the various Schemes made under this Act and for that purpose collect or cause to be collected statistics pertaining to the rural economy and the implementation of the Schemes, an official press release added.

NNN