After Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged key discrepancies in the jobs guarantee scheme at a recent review meeting on the rural sector, the Rural Development Ministry of India has established a panel to restructure MGNREGA.
Key points
- The panel, which will be presided over by former PM advisor Amarjeet Sinha, will deliver its findings on the NREGA review in three months beginning in November.
- Chief Economic Advisor Anantha Nageswaran will also serve on the review group.
- The Prime Minister had expressed concerns that the utilisation of the funds earmarked for the MGNREGS, was skewed in favour of more affluent states instead of poorer states getting more money.
- Residents in more wealthy states could have had a higher chance of finding employment under the crucial anti-poverty job programme, prompting calls for modifications to the system.
- The PM also pointed out anomalies in the amount of work in different states that need to be addressed. He pointed out that in some states, a MGNREGA beneficiary has to work equivalent of digging a 2ft hole in the ground, whereas in some other states more labour would be required to complete a person day.
- Six states — Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh — have so far spent Rs 17,814 crore out of Rs 45,770 crore in wages for unskilled labour in the jobs scheme in the current financial year, according to rural development ministry data.
- In other words, the six states that account for 64.5% of India’s poor population, have utilised 38.9% of the MGNREGS funds so far this year.
- Out of the 2,014 million person days the scheme has generated so far, 815 million, or 40.4%, was in these six states.
Mahatma Gandhi NREGS
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) is a demand driven wage employment Scheme.
- The core objective of the Scheme is to provide not less than 100 days of unskilled manual work as a guaranteed employment in a financial year to every household in rural areas as per demand, resulting in creation of productive assets of prescribed quality and durability.
- As per Section 29 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), Central Government may add new works in the permissible list of works under Schedule 1 of the Act.
- Adding new works under Schedule 1 of the Act is a regular exercise and new works are added on the basis of merit in alignment with focus and objectives of the Act.
