INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Adjusted for inflation, the Rs 60,000 crore allocated to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the
Budget for next year is the lowest allocation since 2016-17
However, when allocations since 2008-09, when the scheme was rolled out nationally, are adjusted to inflation (2011-12 prices) using the
same ratio used to calculate real GDP, the reduction is even sharper (35%).In real terms the highest jump in allocation was not surprisingly
in 2020-21, the Covid year
allocation in the Covid year
This is the biggest cut since the expansion of the scheme in April 2008 to cover all rural areas.A report by the Parliamentary Standing
number of days of employment provided per household so far in 2022-23 is about 43
livelihood security of the people in rural areas by guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household whose
days per household if we were to assume the same number of households (5.8 cr) are provided work as in 2022-23 at a wage rate of Rs 229 per
and administrative cost as last year.Conversely, if work was provided for an average 48 days, then about 2 crore fewer households would get
Either way, with just the current allocation, the number of households or average number of days would be the lowest ever
However, since 2015-16, the government has regularly augmented the budgeted allocation through supplementary budgets.Reacting to the
reduction in the MNREGS budget in 2021-22 to Rs 73,000 crore after the total expenditure on the scheme during Covid of Rs 1,11,171 crore,
of a scheme of such enormous magnitude should be done in a more pragmatic manner so that there is no dearth of funds in mid-year and flow of
funds for payment of wages, material share, etc
