The berhampur Ganjam district has generated the most person days of work in the country under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Officials say that as many as 63449 households in the district were provided 100 days of employment and 226 crore person days of work have been generated till January 21, which is both the highest in the country. The labour-intensive scheme has helped the rural people to earn their livelihood during the postpandemic period and prevented jobseekers from returning to their previous workplaces prior to the outbreak of Covid-19. Various infrastructure projects, like cattle hostels, rural parks, rural tourist circuits, model hatcheries, librarycuminfotainment centres, amrit sarovars model ponds, cremation sheds, anganwadi centres, gymnasiums, and so on, were taken up under the scheme apart from construction of roads and drains. Ganjam also achieved the top position among Odisha’s 30 districts in women’s participation under the scheme, which was 58%.
