Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Union budget brought a piece of bad news for the rural job guarantee scheme. Only Rs 60,000 crore has been allocated for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which is 21.66% lower than the budgetary estimate of Rs 73,000 crore last year. However, it was revised to Rs 89,400 crore later.
Activists say the sharp cut will be a major blow to the rural job sector. “It’s a bloodbath for the social sector. Demand for MGNREGA jobs remains high,” says Nikhil Dey, a founding member of the workers and farmers solidarity group, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan.
In the past five years, 21% of the budget for the scheme is used for paying the pending dues of the previous years. “There is already a pending liability of Rs 16,000 crore. The government wants to kill this scheme, which is the lifeline of millions,” said Dey.
A day before the budget, two groups the Peoples’ Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) and the NREGA Sangarsh Morcha had demanded a minimum allocation of Rs 2.72 lakh crore this financial year.
Dey says though MGNREGA guarantees livelihood in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of employment in a financial year to every household,a study conducted by PRS Legislative Research shows that under NREGA, from 2016-17 to 2020-21, the average number of days of employment was 48 days per household.
NEW DELHI: The Union budget brought a piece of bad news for the rural job guarantee scheme. Only Rs 60,000 crore has been allocated for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which is 21.66% lower than the budgetary estimate of Rs 73,000 crore last year. However, it was revised to Rs 89,400 crore later.
Activists say the sharp cut will be a major blow to the rural job sector. “It’s a bloodbath for the social sector. Demand for MGNREGA jobs remains high,” says Nikhil Dey, a founding member of the workers and farmers solidarity group, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan.
In the past five years, 21% of the budget for the scheme is used for paying the pending dues of the previous years. “There is already a pending liability of Rs 16,000 crore. The government wants to kill this scheme, which is the lifeline of millions,” said Dey.
A day before the budget, two groups the Peoples’ Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) and the NREGA Sangarsh Morcha had demanded a minimum allocation of Rs 2.72 lakh crore this financial year.
Dey says though MGNREGA guarantees livelihood in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of employment in a financial year to every household,a study conducted by PRS Legislative Research shows that under NREGA, from 2016-17 to 2020-21, the average number of days of employment was 48 days per household.
