The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is a demand-driven programme and there is no question of a deficit, Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh said at a press conference in Delhi on Friday. His comments come against the backdrop of over ₹6,500-crore deficit in wages alone, which The Hindu had flagged on October 6.
The Ministry has asked the Finance Ministry ₹28,000 crore to meet the shortfall, which it has in principle agreed to sanction, but the revised budget will need parliamentary approval. The scheme was sanctioned ₹60,000 crore in the 2023-24 Budget, which was 18% lower than ₹73,000 crore budget estimates and 33% lower than ₹89,000 crore revised estimates for the financial year 2022-23.
Mr. Singh was addressing a press conference on the achievements of his Ministry in the last nine years. Answering a question, the Minister said, “There is no scope of deficit in the MGNREGS. It is a demand-driven programme. Then where is the question of deficit. There could be pending dues. And the Finance Ministry has sanctioned an adequate amount. In fact, they have given us a blank cheque, saying that whatever money we require will be released.”
He cited the example of sharp increases in the MGNREGS budget during two years of COVID pandemic to bolster his claim. But this claim has not stopped several State governments from writing to the Centre reminding it of the delays in wage disbursement, which is illegal. The law governing the scheme dictates that a worker has to be paid within a fortnight.
West Bengal issue
To repeated questions on the suspension of the MGNREGS, for nearly two years now, in West Bengal by the Centre invoking Section 27 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, citing irregularities in the implementation, the Minister did not give a conclusive reply. “The money will be released the day when we are satisfied with the transparency measures they take. They [West Bengal] are still getting the requisite funds for other rural development schemes such as widow pension, disability pension, to build roads and so on,” Mr. Singh said. But that did not stop him from criticising the Trinamool Congress for allegedly laying siege to the Krishi Bhawan that houses the Ministry earlier this month.
Criticising the Congress, particularly the party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Mr. Singh said that never during the UPA years did the MGNREGS revised estimate outstrip the budget estimate. During the UPA years only ₹2.13 lakh crore (figures pertaining to 2004-2013) was spent while during the BJP rule, he claimed, ₹6.64 lakh crore had been spent in the last nine years.
Mr. Singh lauded his government’s efforts to bring in transparency by shifting to Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and hailed the recent initiative of Aadhaar seeding of MGNREGS job cards as an effort in this direction. So far, 97.2% of active job cards have been Aadhaar-seeded and December 31 is the deadline to complete the exercise. “With folded hands, I would request all State governments to cooperate. December 31 is the deadline to do so, otherwise we will be forced to remove such members [States]. Transparency is paramount,” the Minister asserted.
