Karnataka generated 2.04 crore person-days of employment under the rural employment guarantee programme between July 1 and October 13, up from 1.71 crore during the same period last year, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Eshwar B Khandre said on October 14. Raichur recorded the highest employment generation in the state with 24 lakh person-days.
Khandre attributed the increase to the need for additional employment among rural poor households, Dalit communities, disadvantaged unskilled workers and landless labourers amid reduced rainfall linked to the El Niño effect. The employment figures cover works undertaken under the programme referred to in the report as VBG Ram G, alongside MGNREGA-related job card and employment measures.
Raichur was followed by Bidar with 21 lakh person-days and Koppal with 18 lakh person-days. Compared with last year, employment generation rose by 340% in Vijayanagara district, 257% in Kalaburagi, 207% in Koppal, 175% in Ballari and 173% in Bidar, according to the minister.
The state also issued 87,164 new job cards during the year. Khandre said the government had combined e-KYC work for existing MGNREGA job cards with job card fairs and the distribution of new cards. The measures were intended to help families that had been migrating in search of work obtain employment in their own localities.
The works taken up under the programme include desilting lakes, social forestry, the restoration of canals and water bodies, cattle sheds, farm ponds, soil-retention structures on hill slopes, manure pits and connecting roads. The government has now allowed the construction of housing projects, community halls and rural bus stations under the programme, according to the minister.
Khandre said the expanded list of works would support the creation of durable assets and village development. The programme allows up to 125 days of employment for one family in a year, with a wage of ₹382 per day for men and women without distinction. On that basis, a rural family could earn up to ₹47,750 annually if it receives the full employment entitlement, he said.
