India okays divisive rural jobs scheme

NEW DELHI:

India's parliament pushed through an overhaul of a rural employment scheme on Friday despite an opposition walkout and a session that stretched well past midnight.

The Developed India Employment Guarantee and Sustenance Mission bill will supercede a decades-old rural jobs scheme for millions of the country's poorest.

It replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).

The older, $9.5 billion government-funded programme guaranteed 100 days of employment each year for any rural household that requested it. Around 160 million households registered last year, according to official figures.

The new scheme raises the guarantee per household to 125 days, but unlike the original model, where funding and jobs responded to workers' requests (demand-driven) the government will now allocate a fixed budget, and dictate job availability upfront (supply-driven).