As Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) completes ten years, the Narendra Modi government on Monday hailed the scheme saying the achievements across a decade are a "cause of national pride and celebration".
As Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) completes ten years on Tuesday, the Narendra Modi government on Monday hailed the measure saying that the achievements of the scheme across a decade were a "cause of national pride and celebration".
This, despite the fact that BJP was earlier critical of United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) flagship rural job scheme.
Also read: Govt praises MGNREGA as scheme completes 10 years tomorrow
In a statement, the government also claimed that the last financial year saw a "revival" of the programme and announced that the focus in the upcoming years will be towards simplifying and strengthening the procedures of the scheme and towards building sustainable assets to benefit the poor.
To mark the completion of 10 years of the MGNREGA scheme, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will visit Bandlapalli village of Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh from where the scheme had taken off.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi to visit village where MGNREGA was launched 10 years ago
MGNREGA since inception
The MGNREGA was the UPA's flagship rural job guarantee scheme, which was announced by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi in February 2006. Within two years, by April 2008, it was available in all the districts of India.
The UPA government had then described it as "a landmark in our history in removing poverty from the face of the nation".
Since the scheme was first rolled out, the expenditure on the programme has amounted to over Rs 3.14 crore of which 71% has been spent on wage payments to workers.
MGNREGA today
Job creation
Under the MGNREGA scheme, 100 days of work is given to job-card holders, which was designed as a safety net to reduce migration of the rural poor by providing them with work and wages.
A few months ago, the Centre decided to permit an additional 50 days of work in drought-hit areas under the MGNREGA scheme to provide a relief to farmers in various parts of the country.
Also read: MGNREGA workdays to be increased in drought-affected areas
Over 1,980 crore person-days have been generated in the programme.
Rural Development Minister Birender Singh recently wrote to Jaitley to sanction "additional funds of Rs 5,000 crore for the scheme" fearing a "shortfall".
SC/ST benefited through MGNREGA
According to the Rural Development Ministry, out of all the workers benefited under the scheme, the percentage of Scheduled Caste workers has consistently been about 20% and of Scheduled Tribe workers has been about 17%.
Women in the workforce
Out of the total jobs created so far, the percentage of hours put in by women has increased steadily, much above the statutory minimum of 33%.
"57% of all workers are women, well above the statutory requirement of 33% and the highest in three years. 23% of all person-days are being done by SC workers, and 18% by ST workers, the highest in three years," it said.
Person-day job creation
Claiming that the 2015-16 financial year had seen a revival of the programme, the Ministry on Monday said that the person-day generation was the highest in the second quarter at 45.88 crore and in the third quarter at 46.10 crore in comparison to what it has been in the last five years.
"The national person-day generation to date at 146 crore is well above what this figure was at this time last year. 44% of all the wage payments are being made on time. More than 64% of the total expenditure is on agriculture and allied activities, the highest in three years.
With the second and third quarters of this financial year recording the generation of 36 and 8% person days (PD) more than the corresponding period in the last fiscal, the ministry is expecting that 66 crore more PDs will be generated during the remaining part of the current financial year.
"The national person-day generation to date at 146 crore is well above what this figure was at this time last year. 44% of all wage payments are being made on time. More than 64% of total expenditure is on agriculture and allied activities, the highest in three years.
Criticism
The NDA government which was initially critical of the scheme, has continued with the programme after coming to power even as the Prime Minister had last year dubbed it a "living monument" of Congress' "failure" to tackle poverty in the last 60 years.
"Do you think, I will put an end to the scheme. My political wisdom does not allow me to do it. This is a living monument of your failure to tackle poverty in 60 years. With song and dance and drum beat, I will continue with the scheme," Modi had said during the Budget Session last year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too had identified gaps in MGNREGA scheme during his tenure, and had asked the Planning Commission to address it.
He expressed surprise that the concurrent evaluation of NREGA scheme was "not in good shape" and directed the Planning Commission to address the deficiency and "gaps".
Former PM Singh along with Gandhi had also expressed concern over the delay in wage payment to MGNREGA workers, emphasising the need to ensure that they get it within 15 days.
There were several reports of corruption too. Congress President Sonia Gandhi had said that the complaints of corruption and irregularities regarding the scheme cannot be ignored.
Also read: Corruption under MGNREGA cannot be ignored: Sonia Gandhi
The former government had made attempts to curb corruption in MGNREGA by linking the scheme with Aadhaar card. However, that too had not been entirely successful.
Changes made to the scheme by NDA
Despite initial criticism, when the NDA government decided to tweak the scheme, several economists had sent petitions to PM Modi, requesting him not to dilute it. However, the government only made some significant changes to it like tweaking the labour-material ratio and restricting it to only backward districts.
The NDA government altered the labour-material ratio for MGNREGA from 60:40 to 51:49.
However, what had left the state governments worrying was the lack of requisite funds needed to sustain the scheme. According to the state governments, rationing of funds and in the absence of refunds on their liabilities to the tune of Rs 5.92 lakh crore, was hitting the scheme.
The government also approved changes to the payment system, initiating payments directly to the bank accounts of workers.
As per the scheme, the wage component of MGNREGA will be released following the State Employment Guarantee Fund window directly to the workers' accounts based on a fund transfer order generated by states' implementing agencies in accordance with procedures prescribed by Rural Development Ministry.
Also read: Modi government approves direct release of wages to MGNREGA workers
Even now, the scheme faces criticism over its functioning. For instance, recently social activist Aruna Roy filed a petition before the Supreme Court alleging "glaring irregularities" in the implementation of the MGNREGA. She suggested timely payment of wages, timely compensation and regular social audits.
Also read: Social activist Aruna Roy alleges glaring irregularities in MGNREGA
Overall, the scheme has been regarded as a success with the sheer amount of employment it has managed to create in its ten years.
(With agency inputs)
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