15 July:The Ministry of Rural Development has introduced Rozgar Jagrookta Puraskar to recognise the outstanding contribution by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for promoting effective implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in different states of the country.
The award will be given for outstanding performance in promoting people’s participation, transparency, social audit, monitoring and evaluation at Panchayat level, Block level and District level. The criteria for the selection of awardees will be the following:-
Generating awareness in the rural areas about the provisions of the Act, particularly the statutory rights of the workers and enabling them to access their legal rights and empower them to benefit from the scheme.
Facilitating workers to obtain receipt of the demand for work, enabling the workers to get work allocated to them within the statutory limit of 15 days and obtain unemployment allowance in case they do not get employment in the stipulated time.
Enabling the verification of the Muster roll and redressal of grievances, monitoring of ongoing works.Creating awareness about the rights of the Gram Sabha and strengthening social audits.
Facilitate the process of wage payments through Banks/Post office accounts and ensuring the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Right to Information Act.