The unkindest cut

Reducing funds for MGNREGS has caused disenchantment among two groups which are politically powerful

Women involved in MGNREGS work. File photo.

To do well in this general election, the BJP must overcome several serious obstacles of its own making. It has failed to fulfil the stirring promise of massive job creation. Demonetisation severely affected many farmers, households and enterprises. Huge numbers of vulnerable people have been denied vital services and benefits because of Aadhaar malfunctions. Among its failures, a misjudgment that has attracted less attention is the reduction in funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). It has caused disenchantment among two different groups, both of which are politically powerful.

First, it has hit poor villagers who are in dire need of wages from the programme. For many, it is the difference between one meagre meal and two nutritious meals per day for their families. MGNREGS began to address the problem of malnutrition and stunting in India, which cause irreparable damage to the bodies and minds of children. Many MGNREGS workers have used their earnings to improve small plots of land or to buy livestock. This modestly but crucially enhanced their assets and autonomy.

In recent years, most of the labour on MGNREGS work sites has been done by women, who gain greater independence in their households from their earnings that reach their bank accounts. As

The Verdict , a new book by Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala, reveals, turnout at elections by rural women has been increasing. The MGNREGS has also provided benefits to Dalits and Adivasis.

When he was Rural Development Minister, Birendra Singh opposed the constriction of funding for the Scheme because demand for employment on work sites remained strong. It has been higher in 2018-19 than in the last eight years. The government brushed his views aside. Now it seems to acknowledge the problem, but too late after three years of fewer person-days worked. The Centre has also been slow in sanctioning funds for State governments, adding to the serious decline in work opportunities.

Resentment among a second group also carries grave risks for the BJP. The funding cuts have alienated elected members of India’s gram panchayats, many of whom have real political clout at the grass-roots level. By law, at least half of MGNREGS funds must go to gram panchayats, and some State governments provide as much as 90%. Five years ago, local councillors in several States proudly told this writer that they controlled as much or more money than their MLAs. The programme’s shrinking budget has eroded their power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party can ill afford a backlash from these people.

The writer is Emeritus Professor of Commonwealth Studies at the School of Advanced Studies, University of London