New Delhi: UPA government's ambitious national rural employment guarantee programme that promises 100 days of engagement to every rural household will be formally launched on February 2 in 200 districts, including Sonia Gandhi's constituency Rae Bareli.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will flag off the scheme by accepting application forms from job aspirants in rural areas. Chief Ministers of various states will also launch the scheme simultaneously in their states using the same process on the same day.

Initially the programme was meant for 150 districts but it was later decided to add 50 more to the first phase of the programme.

A sum of Rs10,000 crore will be needed for the phase for the remaining months of the current financial year.

While Rs5,500 crore will come from the sampoorna grameen rozgar yojana fund, Rs4,500 crore will be obtained from the food-for-work scheme. Singh also said all the necessary guidelines had been finalised for the implementation of the programme in consultation with states and experts.