Page 470 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

district in Eastern/Central India. On 17 May, Naxals blew up a bus on
Dantewada-sukhma road in Chhattisgarh, killing 15 policemen and 20
civilians. In a third major attack by Naxals on 29 June, at least 26 personnel
of the CRPF were killed in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh.

Despite the 2010 Chhattisgarh ambushes, the most recent Central
Government campaign to contain and reduce the militant Naxalite presence
appears to be having some success. States such as Madhya Pradesh have

reported a significant reduction in Naxalite activities as a result of rural
development within their states.

In late 2011, Kishenji, the military leader of the Communist Party of India

(Maoist) was killed in an encounter with the joint operation forces, which
was a huge blow to the Naxalite movement in Eastern India. In March 2012,

Maoist rebels kidnapped two Italians in Orissa. 12 CRPF personnel were
killed on 27 March 2012 in a landmine blast triggered by suspected Naxalites
in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.

MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL

EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT

(MGNREGA)

The MGNREGA is a job guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on 25

August 2005. The scheme provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of
employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household

willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory
minimum wage of `120 ($2.39) per day in 2009 prices. The Central
Government outlay for the scheme is `40,000 crore ($7.98 billion) in FY
2010–11.

This act was introduced with the aim of improving the purchasing power of
the rural people, by providing primarily semi- or un-skilled work to people
living in rural India, whether or not they were below the poverty line. Around

one-third of the stipulated workforce is women. The law was initially called
the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) but was renamed