Rahul Gandhi will visit Bandlapalli, Anantpur on February 2. (File photo)
Marking the completion of ten years of the UPA's flagship rural job scheme MGNREGA, Rahul Gandhi will visit Bandlapalli village in Andhra Pradesh next week.
"Will visit Bandlapalli, Anantpur on 2nd Feb to commemorate 10 yrs of MNREGA. It was from this village that Prime Minister Manmohan Singhji and Congress President Sonia Gandhiji in 2006 had launched the historic MNREGA," Mr Gandhi tweeted.
Mr Gandhi and Mr Singh had launched the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in February 2006 to provide livelihood security to millions of poor in the villages across the country. The scheme was later rechristened after Mahatma Gandhi.
The United Progressive Alliance government had then described it as "a landmark in our history in removing poverty from the face of the nation".
Narendra Modi-led NDA government, which was initially critical of the scheme, has continued with it. Rural Development minister Birender Singh recently wrote a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to sanction an "additional fund of Rs 5,000 crore for the scheme".
100 days of work is provided to rural job card holders under the scheme. It was designed as a safety net to reduce migration by rural poor by providing them work and wage close to their homes.
A few months ago, Centre had also decided to provide additional 50 days of work in drought-hit areas under the MGNREGA scheme to provide relief to farmers in view of monsoon deficit in various parts of the country.