The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) , which has been described as the lifeline of rural India during the lockdown, did not find a mention in the Finance Minister's Budget speech on February 1, 2021. The scheme has been allocated Rs. 73,000 crore for FY22 which is lower than the revised estimates of FY21 which stood at Rs 1,11,500 crore.
Among others, allocation as a % of the total expenditure for higher education and school education recorded marginal increases for FY22. The allocation for the rural development sector as a % of the total expenditure fell for FY22.
The charts depict the allocation for various social sectors/schemes as a % of total expenditure in various years.
MGNREGS
The proportion of funds allocated for the rural employment scheme has come down by 1.1% points. The total allocation for the scheme is Rs. 73,000 crore for FY22.
Rural development
The proportion of funds allocated for rural development has decreased by 0.7% points. The total allocation for rural development is Rs. 1,94,633 crore for FY22.
Higher education
The proportion of funds allocated for higher education has increased by 0.1% points. The total allocation for higher education is Rs. 38,350.6 crore for FY22.
School education
The proportion of funds allocated for school education has gone up by 0.1% points. The total allocation for school education is Rs. 54,873.7 crore for FY22.
Social welfare
The proportion of funds allocated has gone up by 0.2% points. The total allocation for social welfare is Rs. 48,460 crore for FY22.
Also read: Union Budget 2021 | PM-KISAN dominates agriculture outlay, procurement concerns remain
Source: Budget documents, Department of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers Welfare
