Nine years after the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was passed, activists who first campaigned for the scheme say the National Democratic Alliance government is starving it of funds.
An internal note circulated in the MGNREGA division of the Union Rural Development Ministry, accessed by activists using the Right to Information Act, lists budgetary allocation for the scheme at Rs. 34,000 crore for 2014-15.
The Ministry had approved 227 crore person days of work, which by its own calculations will require approximately Rs. 60,000 crore at the rate of about Rs. 270 each person day, they said. This amounts to a 45 per cent reduction in the outlay for the scheme, activists from the People’s Action for Employment Guarantee said on Monday.
The group includes Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, economists Jayati Ghosh and Reetika Khera and senior lawyer Indira Jaising.
Moreover, the outlay for the scheme has remained nearly constant for the past three years, which, adjusting for inflation, amounts to a decrease, the activists said. Also, release of funds to the States was being delayed and the amounts have been capped. As a result, there has been a 16 per cent decline in employment from the 2013-14 figure, they said.
Compared with 147 lakh person days generated in December 2013, only 123 lakh person days were generated in December 2014, with the decline sharper in poor States such as Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
Wages delayedBy the Ministry’s own online reports, till December 2014 in the financial year 2014-15, 72 per cent of the total wages disbursed were delayed. Moreover, delays in wage payments actually increased over time.
“Over the last nine years, the MGNREGA has had far reaching impacts on the lives of the rural poor. The provision of employment through this law is one of the only legally protected social security mechanisms for the millions of rural poor in the country,” the activists said in a statement.
Risk resilience“Evidence from independent research studies have shown that the MGNREGA has successfully curbed distress migration, had large effects on consumption and poverty of Dalit and Adivasi households, increased nutritional standards of households, provided risk resilience to small and marginal farmers and vastly expanded the financial inclusion net in the country,” they said asking that the Act be protected and adequate funds be released.
