Inadequate fundingEconomists and activists told 101Reporters that the Centre’s allocation of Rs 73,000 crore to MGNREGA in the Union Budget for 2022 – of which over Rs 18,350 crore was pending from the previous year – was far from the amount required for the smooth implementation of the scheme. This inadequacy is a systemic blow to the very backbone of MGNREGA at the grassroots.Accusing the Central government of “systematically underfunding” MGNREGA, development economist Jayati Ghosh emphasised that this had been “leading to further exclusion of women and an even greater rise in poverty and hunger”.”It’s also a macroeconomic disaster, further eroding mass consumption demand,” added Ghosh, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts in the US. “To meet the promise of 100 days of work for the households already registered, the allocation needs to be at least four times higher than the current Rs 73,000 crore.”She further pointed out that women, in particular, tend to be excluded from job opportunities when they are scarce.”There was a higher proportion of women under MGNREGA earlier because it offered lower wages than market rates. So fewer men were interested in these jobs back then. But now, amid widespread economic distress and lack of other livelihood opportunities, men are seeking out even MGNREGA jobs,” she explained.The current rate of wages in West Bengal, for 2021-22, stands at Rs 213 per day.Lack of transparency, arbitrary job allocationOver two dozen women from the villages of Hasnabad block in North 24 Parganas spoke to 101Reporters about the dearth of employment opportunities in the region. Besides inadequate funding, lack of transparency in the allocation of jobs, too, plays a significant factor in the deepening rural crisis that has marginalised women even further.Ranjan Kumar Mondal, an MGNREGA booth supervisor, said that once a scheme is launched, supervisors like him fill up and submit the application forms to the panchayat office, and that workers are often chosen from among those who were enlisted earlier. In some cases, people are informally notified about available work in the area, and their names are passed on to the panchayat.However, the norms laid down dictate that workers be able to directly approach the panchayat offices. Instead, supervisors fill out the forms themselves and submit the lists to the panchayat once the work is allocated. This lack of transparency leaves a significant proportion of people unemployed.Moreover, members of the Paschimbanga Khetmajoor Samity (PBKMS) – an independent trade union in West Bengal that promotes the rights of agricultural workers to decent wages, work and food – highlighted the arbitrary manner in which local administrations often allocate jobs, which ultimately fails to meet the demand for work.”When we demand accountability from them, there are only excuses,” said Suchitra Halder, a senior activist of the PBKMS. “The lack of political will and rivalries among parties are the primary reasons why work does not take off in these areas.”Anuradha Talwar, a state committee member of the PBKMS, added: “The biggest problem in the coming year is going to be the fallout from the current government’s huge reduction in the MGNREGA budget. It will affect the availability of work, and in West Bengal, women are going to be the worst hit. Men are going back to migration.”Given how particularly challenging the past three years have been due to the pandemic and cyclones Amphan and Yaas, Talwar warned of soaring rural distress and added, “MGNREGA will no longer be an option for people to rely on”.
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