Congress, BJP spar in Lok Sabha over cuts in MGNREGA budgets

Ministers counter Sonia’s allegations of 35% cut in allocations, delayed payments

Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi speaks in the Lok Sabha during the second part of Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, on March 31, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI

The Lok Sabha on Thursday witnessed sharp exchanges between Congress members and BJP ministers after Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed concern over reduction in budgetary allocations for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Ms. Gandhi said there has been a 35% reduction in allocation in the current budget compared to the 2020 Budget and several States are left with negative balance in their MGNREGA accounts to the tune of ₹5,000 crore. This has led to delays in payments to workers, she added.

Responding to her statement, Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh and Information & Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the allegations were “far from the truth” and charged the Congress chief with politicising the issue.

Opening her speech, Ms. Gandhi said though some in the government had ridiculed MGNREGA few years ago (a refference to an earlier statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi), the rural job guarantee scheme had helped the poor during the COVID pandemic and had come to the government’s rescue in the wake of repeated lockdowns.

“Still there is regular reduction in the budgetary allocation for MGNREGA. This year the budget for MGNREGA is 35% less than that of 2020. This comes at a time when unemployment is rising continuously,” she said.

The budgetary cuts were weakening the legal guarantee of timely payment and employment, Ms. Gandhi said, pointing out that the Supreme Court had compared the the delay in MGNREGA payments with ‘forced labour’. The Congress chief also pointed out that States have been told that their annual labour budget will not be approved unless they meet conditions related to social audit and appointment of Lokpal.

“Social audit should be made effective but workers can’t be punished by stopping the money for this. I request the Central government to allocate adequate funds for MGNREGA, ensure payment of workers within 15 days of work, and pay compensation in case of delay in payment of wages,” the Congress leader said.

Responding to Ms. Gandhi, the Rural Development Minister said, “The issue raised by the honourable member is far from the truth. The budgetary allocation for MGNREGA in 2013-14 (UPA years) was ₹33,000 crore, whereas under Prime Minister Narendra Modi it had reached ₹1.12 lakh crore. No need to show us the mirror”.

Mr. Thakur, added that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) couldn’t even spend the allocated amount in full and the scheme was mired in corruption.

He said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, geo-tagging of assets created under MGNREGA was introduced and payments were directly made to workers in their Jan Dhan accounts.

The attack on the UPA by the ministers triggered protests from Congress members, provoking many them including party’s Lok Sabha leader, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, to troop into the well of the House.

For several minutes, Congress members like Gaurav Gogoi, Hibi Eden, Ramya Haridas, Benny Behanan, Manickam Tagore and K. Suresh kept targeting the ministers. As the commotion continued, Mr Thakur said it was ironic for the Opposition to criticise when a Union minister had responded immediately to an issue raised by Ms. Gandhi.