» NREGA to cover entire country
» Branchless rural banking

NREGA to cover entire country

After a meeting with various Union ministries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently announced that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) will be extended to the remaining 265 districts of the country from April 1, 2008. Currently it is being implemented in 330 districts.

The Union ministry of rural development has estimated that NREGA would require around Rs 20,000 crore annually to cover all the districts of India. This is an additional Rs 8,000 crore to the current allocation. NREGA has a provision for its extension to all districts by 2010.

^top

Branchless rural banking

For the first time rural residents in Andhra Pradesh’s Warangal district will receive payments under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) through Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-equipped smart cards.

The disbursing official carries the entire bank system on a special mobile phone, which has been enhanced by a chip developed by the European semiconductor company NXP with contributions from its Indian development laboratory in Bangalore.

The chip enables secure data communication between the phone and the RFID smart cards, using contactless Near Field Communication technology. Mumbai-based technology developer, A Little World, has designed the NXP-based ‘Zero’ mobile platform.

NXP has partnered with the non-profit agency Zero Micro-finance and the Savings Support Foundation to launch the project on a pilot basis in Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and the North-East. Six banks, including SBI, Union Bank, UTI Bank, Andhra Bank, SBH and AP Grameen Bank and RGI will deliver zero platform-based banking services to rural citizens.

^top