The government launched Climate Resilience Information System and Planning (CRISP-M) tool for integration of climate information in Geographic Information System (GIS) based watershed planning under MGNREGS.

It was inaugurated by Union Minister Giriraj Singh and Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth in the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office through a virtual event.

Key points on CRISP-M:

• Integrating weather and climate information into planning can help MGNREGS to make more climate-smart decisions tailored to specific needs and specific locations, and be based on real time monitoring. 

• CRISP-M was co-developed by IIED with Madhya Pradesh Council of Science & Technology (MPCST) for the ministry of rural development, government of India, under the Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth (ICRG) programme funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.

• With the launch of this CRISP-M tool, the integration of climate information in GIS-based watershed planning will be possible and that would further strengthen planning of climate resilient works under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGS).

• The implementation of CRISP-M will open up new possibilities for rural communities to deal with the issues of climate change. 

• This tool will be used in seven states where the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), government of UK and the ministry of rural development are jointly working towards climate resilience. 

• These states are Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Rajasthan.

• It will help the poor and vulnerable to cope with climate change and protect them from weather-related disasters.

What is MGNREGS?

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is a demand driven wage employment programme, which provides for livelihood security by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

• MGNREGS aims to strengthen the livelihood resource base of the rural households while creating productive assets.

• The Parliament passed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in August 2005. It came into force on February 2, 2006.

• On October 2, 2009 an amendment was made in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005, to change the nomenclature of the Act from NREGA to MGNREGA. 

• MGNREGS was initially implemented in 200 districts and extended subsequently to other districts. At present, it covers over 700 districts. 

• Wage rates for workers under the MGNREGA are notified and revised annually. MGNREGA wages are paid based on measurement of work done. Every state has its defined Schedule of Rates on the basis of which the work output is defined and used to calculate the wages for MGNREGA beneficiaries. The actual wage payable is calculated based on the output of the worker.

Goals of the scheme:

1) Social protection for the most vulnerable people living in rural India by guaranteeing wage employment opportunities.

2) Enhance livelihood security of the rural poor through generation of wage employment opportunities in works leading to creation of durable assets.

3) Rejuvenate natural resource base of rural areas.

4) Create a durable and productive rural asset base.

5) Empowerment of the socially disadvantaged, especially, women, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), through the processes of a rights-based legislation.

6) Strengthen decentralised, participatory planning through convergence of various anti-poverty and livelihoods initiatives.

7) Deepen democracy at the grassroots by strengthening Panchayati Raj institutions.

• The government has allocated Rs 73,000 crore at Budget Estimate stage for financial year 2021-22 for MGNREGS, which is an increase of Rs 11,500 crore as compared to Budget Estimate for the financial year 2020-21.

• According to the ministry of rural development, during 2020-21, as many as 11.19 crore persons were provided employment and more than 389.23 crore person-days were generated.

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