Slash in budgetary allocation for MGNREGS decried

Penukonda (Sathya Sai): MGNREGS programme, the safety net that is meant to protect the poor rural households is facing dwindling earnings and cutbacks. In the Union Budget 2023, the government slashed the allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to Rs 60,000 crore, the lowest in the past four years.

When compared to Rs 73,000 crore allocation in the budget estimate (BE) of 2022-2023, the current allocation is 17.8 per cent less, many State governments were confronting a cash-crunch and 15 State governments were in the red because the Centre had not released funds, points out social activist and pro-NREGS campaigner Narendra Bedi.

In a press statement issued after a debate by the Economic Forum of Young India, Bedi opined that the BJP-led government diluted MGNREGA and slashed the budgetary allocation of the mega social sector scheme launched by the erstwhile UPA regime. The government was analysing certain aspects, including "the need of enhancing asset quality," which require "revisit of the scheme." The Centre was blaming the State governments for delay in payments as the governments failed to submit the proper audit report in time for release of funds.

The role of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as a lifeline for the working poor in rural India has been proved once again during the covid lockdown, Narendra Bedi said. "In 2021 with an average 23 days of work and a daily wage of Rs 200, households who got work earned an average of Rs 1,500 a month. Even though this was meagre, it shows the potential of MGNREGA to bring work and relief, provided it is further expanded," he said. The NITI Aayog report of 2020 on the impact of the scheme on household income and poverty alleviation had called it (MNERGA) a powerful instrument for inclusive growth in rural India, civil society activist Suresh Baby said.

Observers beyond politics are expressing concern over the mega rural employment generation scheme losing its sheen. Beyond politics the scheme should continue as the government's largest economic intervention to beat poverty, they say.