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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | 'Too little' tag on rural job scheme raise

'Too little' tag on rural job scheme raise

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published Published on Mar 2, 2016   modified Modified on Mar 2, 2016
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley today promised an 11 per cent hike in funds for the rural job scheme over the last financial year but critics termed it "highly insufficient", citing the wage arrears and increased demand.

The government, though, has spent substantially more on the scheme this financial year than it had allocated in the last budget.

Jaitley has earmarked Rs 38,500 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act programme this year, compared with Rs 34,699 crore last year.

If the entire amount allocated this year is utilised, Jaitley said, it would be the highest sum spent in a year on the scheme. But the People's Action for Employment Guarantee, a civil society organisation, claimed that about Rs 40,000 crore had been spent on the scheme in 2010-11.

The increased allocation comes a year and a half after the government had indicated that it planned to dilute the programme.

Soon after the NDA came to power, then rural development secretary L.C. Goyal had circulated an internal note that spoke of limiting the scheme to the 200 most backward districts instead of implementing it across the country's 600-odd districts. Protests from various quarters stalled the proposal.

During a Lok Sabha debate last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described the scheme, introduced by the UPA, as a testimony to the failures of previous governments.

Critics have long derided the programme, saying it has failed to boost farm production or create assets.

Jaitley said that at least five lakh farm ponds and wells would be dug in rain-fed areas and 10 lakh compost pits built under the scheme in the coming financial year.

People's Action, though, argued that the allocation was insufficient and underlined that it lagged the highest ever allocation of Rs 40,100 in 2010-11.

Former National Advisory Council member Aruna Roy and activists Nikhil Dey and Annie Raja are among those associated with People's Action. A statement from the organisation said that Rs 37,000 crore had so far been spent on the job scheme this financial year apart from another Rs 6,000 crore spent to clear wage dues.

Correcting the combined figure of Rs 43,000 for inflation at approximately eight per cent, it said, any allocation less than Rs 50,000 crore would be insufficient for the coming financial year.

"In other words, the allocation of Rs 38,500 in the budget 2016-17 is actually a budget cut," the statement said.

The scheme, started by the erstwhile UPA government, guarantees up to 100 days' paid employment to every rural household. The allocations for it had witnessed a sharp fall in the years between 2010-11 and this year, causing the employment provided to dwindle too.

Jaitley recently said the government would strengthen the programme since it helped boost the rural economy, which was key to maintaining economic growth.

The total allocation for rural development schemes is Rs 87,000 crore, of which Rs 9,000 crore will go to the Swachh Bharat programme in the villages. The allocation was Rs 72,000 crore in the last budget.


The Telegraph, 29 February, 2016, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160301/jsp/nation/story_72179.jsp#.VtaikuY1t_l


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