The Centre has amended Schedule I of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), 2005, fixing a minimum percentage of amount to be spent on water conservation and harvesting works in rural blocks based on their stage of groundwater extraction.

A notification of this effect was issued by the Ministry of Rural Development on Tuesday.

In rural blocks categorised as ‘over-exploited’ and ‘critical’ by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), a minimum of 65 per cent of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) works in terms of cost shall be taken up for water conservation, water harvesting and other water-related works.

‘Over-exploited’ blocks are the assessment units where the stage of groundwater extraction is over 100 per cent. This means that more gro

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