11.25 job cards distributed in 2009-10

As many as 11.25 crore (112.5 million) job cards under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act were issued to people in 619 districts across the country in 2009-10, the government said on Monday.

Just over 5 crore (50 million) households received employment in works like water conservation and water harvesting, drought proofing, irrigation canals and renovation of traditional water canals, the MNREGA annual report, tabled by the Rural Development ministry in Parliament, said.

Of these works, 51 per cent were employed for water conservation, 17 per cent for provision for irrigation facility to land owned by Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe/Below Poverty Line beneficiaries, 17 per cent for rural connectivity and 14

per cent for land development.

The share of women working in the schemes has increased to 48 per cent as compared to 43 per cent in 2007-8, the report said, adding that the average wages paid per persondays was Rs 90.

As many as 9.38 crore MNREGA bank and post offices accounts were opened in 2009-10 with a view to universalise the system of wage payments thorough institutional accounts, the report said.