Don’t Weaken MNREGA

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Don’t Weaken MNREGA

Friday, 03 February 2023 | Pioneer

Don’t Weaken MNREGA

Allocation for MNREGA has been slashed in the Budget which would hit hard the downtrodden

 

While the tax slabs hogged the limelight of the Budget 2023 presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, one thing that has been overlooked by most is that the budget for the MNREGA has been slashed along with other social security schemes. The impact of weakening MNREGA could be really bad for the rural poor. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) is the lifeline for poor village women workers who work in the vicinity of their homes to earn their subsistence. The Finance Minister has reduced the allocation to MNREGA to Rs 60,000 crore, the lowest in the last four budgets. This year’s budget allocation for the scheme has declined by 29000 crores. The scheme was introduced in 2005 by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and is aimed at ensuring the livelihood security of households in rural areas. The demand-driven scheme guarantees 100 days of unskilled work annually for every rural household and covers all districts in the country. In fact, it has been so popular that even the World Bank took note of it and praised it. MNREGA has been ranked as the world’s largest public works program by the World bank, providing social security net to almost 15 percent of the country’s population.

 Besides MNREGS, the government has cut down the National Social Assistance Program to Rs 9,636.32 crore from the 2022-23 revised estimate of Rs 9,652 crore. The program provides financial assistance to the elderly, widows, and persons with disabilities in the form of social pensions. The budget for Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2, aimed at welfare of children and women, has been brought down to Rs 20,263 from the 2022-’23 revised estimate of Rs 20,554. It is rather sad that the Central Government is reducing the subsidies and also weakening the social security net which is the need of the hour, especially after the pandemic as many people who suffered have not recovered fully. MNREGA is an excellent scheme for it provides work and does not give freebies and that too in the vicinity of the beneficiaries so is convenient for the women. In 2022-23 6.49 crore households demanded work under the Scheme. Out of this, 6.48 crore households were offered employment by the government. The budget allocation to MNREGA as for other social schemes must not be cut, it would hit the poorest of the poor. The  Govt must revise its budget allocation to strengthen the social security.   

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