On Wednesday, the Central government has replied to a question about MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). The question was asked by John Brittas, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) about the state-wise details of MGNREGA work and arrears in wage payment during the pandemic. The central government has provided the answer that almost ₹3,360 crores are still pending as arrears in the wages. The largest arrears are pending in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
Centre has 25% budget allocation in MGNREGA and other rural jobs scheme
This revelation made by the Central government had created doubt about the government’s policy for creating jobs. This year the central government has already reduced the budget allocation for rural jobs scheme by a quarter (i.e. 25%). As these arrears will further reduce the amount of money available to pay workers in next financial years. This question was raised by CPI (Marxist) John Brittas. He has sought the state-wise details of work allocated in pandemic and arrears in wage payment. This is a clear case that indicates that after clearing previous wages and material liabilities, the Government will be left much lesser to money to pay further to workers this year.
The question raised by CPI (Marxist) member was answered by Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written response. The data provided by the minister is updated till 27 January 2022. Till the mentioned date, a total of ₹3,358.14 crores is standing as arrears in wages. West Bengal had the largest wage arrears of around ₹752 crores. Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are following West Bengal with arrears of ₹597 crores and ₹555 crores respectively. The financial statement is available on the website of MGNREGA, which shows that around ₹11,027 crores (as of February 2) are due for materials costs.
MGNREGA Sangharsh Morcha criticized Government calling the budget as “Inadequate allocation”
MGNREGA has heavily criticized the budget allocation (for the financial year 2022-23). This year government has lowered the budget by 25% from the revised estimates for the previous year. The Sangharsh Morcha has said in a statement that only Rs. 54650 crores will be available for MGNREGA for next year. More than 80% of the budget gets exhausted in the first 6 months and that results in a heavy slowdown of the development work on the ground. The government has not been able to provide employment to every active job cardholder. This is mainly because of inadequate budget allocation.
The worker advocacy group added that at a per person per day cost of ₹334, if all active job card workers requested work, the government would only be able to provide 16 days of employment out of the guaranteed 100 days, given the current budget estimates.