The state of Andhra Pradesh got Rs 6,500 crore in 2009-10 to implement the The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), and will reportedly get Rs 10,000 crore for this financial year. An average rural family, employed under this scheme receives Rs. 6,000/- to 10,00/- a month.
This has had an unintended side effect: a record rise in the consumption of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) among poor rural families, all thanks to the unprecedented sums of money that the scheme placed in their hands.
This was reflected in the record bids made by the politico-realtor lobby for the two-year liquor licences across AP, last week.
In the auction for 6,596 liquor outlets, it was the rural districts like Mahbubnagar and Anantapur — considered backward and from where people migrated for work, but now beneficiaries of NREGS — which witnessed huge jumps from the previous bids.
Uncertainty
1 month ago
