NREGA man-days to be 150 from 100?

Wth the Lok Sabha elections just a few months away, the UPA is all set to hike the statutory mandays under rural job flagship scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to 150 from the current 100. The Union Cabinet in its meeting on Friday is likely to consider the proposal from the Union rural development ministry.
The proposed enhancing of the statutory mandays under the MGNREGA would come close on the heels of the government having already hiked the wages under the flagship scheme by taking into account the inflation rate.
Under the MGREGA, the government is bound to provide 100 days of works to the people in the rural areas. After drought had affected some parts of Gujrat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, the Centre has made an exception for them to give 150 days of works to the people in the rural areas.
Incidentally, the UPA was credited to have reaped the electoral dividends from the success of the MGNREGA in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
But in the recent years, the demand for jobs under the flagship scheme MGNREGA had been on the down side despite the government expanding the scope of works to be undertaken through the flagship scheme.