<span style="color: #222222;">Eight crore 29 lakh people were employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) during the current financial year.<br />'' <br />'' Union Minister of Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar in his written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today informed that Government has made provision of additional fund of 40 thousand crore rupees for MGNREGA scheme under Atma Nirbhar Bharat package. He said, out of the initial outlay of 61 thousand 500 crore rupees for the MGNREGA employment scheme,  a total of 60 thousand 599 crore rupees have already been released.<br />'' <br />'' The Minister informed that new works are also being included under the Scheme to expand the ambit of work offered. He said, the permissible works under the Scheme has now been enhanced to 262 after addition of unskilled wage component for construction of Community Sanitary Complexes in convergence with Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen).<br />'' <br />''<br />''In his reply, Mr. Tomar informed that the Ministry has also issued convergence guidelines with other Ministries and Departments to enhance the creation of durable assets by creating more opportunities in rural areas.</span>