Exactly 10 years since the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was notified, the government, Opposition, industry and civil societies clashed over its implementation. Over the decade, Rs 3 lakh crore have been spent on the programme, averaging to about 0.3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), covering over 250 million people.
Exactly 10 years since the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was notified, the government, Opposition, industry and civil societies clashed over its implementation. Over the decade, Rs 3 lakh crore have been spent on the programme, averaging to about 0.3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), covering over 250 million people.
Showing renewed thrust on rural India, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, while complaining that private sector was not contributing to the scheme as desired, said the government was not only committed to strengthening MGNREGA, but would also use it to boost the public spending in other rural sectors to spur growth.
But the industry believed the scheme has affected the labour market adversely. In a study, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) found that while rural wages have grown on average by 17 per cent since 2006-07 and outstripped urban wages, the productivity has not increased. It has also affected small industrial units in
semi-urban setups for want of labour. The Act guarantees a minimum 100 days of employment out of the 365 days in a year to every willing household within 15 days of making such a requisition.
But the Opposition Congress punched holes in government claims, saying only 86.75 lakh people in drought-ridden states had benefited as against 1.95 crore families asking for jobs. Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said the number of families getting 100 days of compulsory employment in a year has been systematically brought down to half, pointing out that 52.73 lakh families got it in 2012-13 and 46.59 lakh in 2013-14, but their number has been drastically cut down to 24.94 lakh in 2014-15 and a dismal 20.45 lakh in this drought year of 2015-16.
Surjewala said the truth is that instead of a 100-day guaranteed work, only an average 39.98 days of employment is being made available to workers and that too with payment of wages never on time. The unpaid wages in the current fiscal also amounted to more than Rs 11,000 crore. Funds with the states have dried up and 14 states, including Andhra Pradesh, are showing negative balance because the Centre is not loosening strings of its purse.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also accused the government of killing its "soul and spirit" by withholding payments to states. In 2014-15 alone, the Centre did not pay Rs 6,000 crore to states for already executed MGNREGA works, he said.
Dismissing the allegations, Jaitley said the government has allocated Rs 37,000 crore this fiscal, which is the highest-ever budgetary support to the scheme. He asserted that it will be for the first time ever that the scheme was given funds over and above the budgeted amount as against the UPA government spending less than the budget year after year.
Civil rights activist and author of this legislation Aruna Roy said the expenditure levels on the scheme have not kept pace from 2010. Roy, who was part of Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), said keeping in view the inflation and consumer price index the budget outlay for MGNREGA in 2015-16 should have been Rs 6,1445 crore to to maintain percentage of the GDP. But, only Rs 37,000 crore were allocated, she said.
1. In the past 10 years, under the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, employment amounting to 1986.31 crore workdays and disbursement of Rs 314877.12 Cr was done under this flagship scheme.
2. There are about 13.13 crores job cards under MGNREGA with 27.59 crores workers enrolled through them, Of these active job cards account for 6.35 crores with 9.83 crores workers enrolled on them. Of these, 19.6% belong to SC category and 15.22% belong to ST category.
3. Findings of a study by IHDS and University of Maryland
MGNREGA prevented 14 million persons from falling into poverty
Poverty among adivasis was reduced by 28% and for dalits by 38%.
MGNREGA has led to a decline in reliance on money-lenders
MGNREGA households are investing more in children's education than others
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