Parliament panel raises concerns over Budget cuts for MGNREGA

Even as a parliamentary standing committee raised concerns over the reduced fund allocation for the MGNREGA scheme, the government said there is “no dearth of money” if the demand arises for wage employment.

The Standing Committee on Rural Development, which submitted its report in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, said the budget estimates for MGNREGS have been reduced by Rs 29,400 crore for 2023-24 when compared to the revised estimates of 2022-23.

“The Act governing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme provides Right to Work’ to such deprived sections of the rural populace who are willing to work. It is a last resort of succour for the jobless section who don’t have any other means to feed them and their family members,” the report said. “The role and importance of MGNREGA were visible during the corona pandemic times when it acted as a ray of hope for the needy in times of distress,” it said.

The ministry, in its response, stated that the scheme is demand-driven and whenever needed, the allocation has been increased.

“There was an increase in the allocation in the previous two-three years because of the abnormal situations created due to Covid, the Ukraine war, and inflation... now the situation has normalised a bit. In 2020-21, the original budget was Rs 61,000 crore,” the ministry said. “Since it is a demand-driven scheme when the need arose it was enhanced to Rs 1,10,000 crore. Whenever there is a need for extra money we go to the Finance Ministry and they allocate extra money for this. There is no dearth of money if the demand arises for wage employment,” the ministry said. The committee also said that it was concerned to note the continuous pendency in the disbursement of the Centre’s share of funds under wages and material components of the scheme in respect of several states/Union Territories.

According to the information received from the Department of Rural Development, it has been observed that as on January 25, 2023, Rs 6,231 crore in wages and Rs 7,616 crore in material component is pending liability on the Centre’s part, it said.