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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Cash for rural wages dries up

Cash for rural wages dries up

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published Published on Jan 7, 2016   modified Modified on Jan 7, 2016
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: Nearly 18 million villagers registered under the rural job scheme face the prospect of toiling without wages as funds have dried up amid a drought-triggered surge in demand for work.

Twelve states have run up "negative balances", meaning workers' payments are due, while the rest have exhausted 95 per cent of the funds released to them so far, according to the rural development ministry, which runs the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) plan.

The ministry has requested immediate release of fresh allocations, as have several civil society groups which warned today that if this did not happen, the workers in these states would not get wages till the commencement of the next financial year in April.

The scheme guarantees up to 100 days of unskilled work to every rural household in a year. Wages are due in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh.

The demand for work has soared mainly because several states have been hit by drought. Around 135 crore man days of work were generated in the first six months of this fiscal against 160 crore man days in all of 2014-15.

"The pinch of drought is going to be felt more in January and February. Unless the government releases funds, the people are going to suffer," social activist Aruna Roy, one of those who helped craft the UPA-introduced scheme, said.

The 2015-16 budget allocation for the scheme was Rs 34,699 crore. The rural development ministry had exhausted Rs 33,500 crore - around 96 per cent of the kitty - by mid-December. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had promised an additional Rs 5,000 crore if required.

Rural development minister Birender Singh last month wrote to Jaitley requesting the extra sum.

"We are receiving a number of requests from states for release of funds to liquidate the pending liabilities and for smooth implementation of MGNREGA during the fourth quarter (January-March 2016) of the current financial year," Singh said in the letter.

The Centre has allowed up 150 days of work in the drought-affected areas of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. It is considering a proposal to allow another 50 days in "severe drought-affected" areas of Odisha and Andhra, the minister wrote.

"Given the farmer distress, the demand for wage employment has been high," the letter states, adding it expects a shortfall of more than Rs 5,000 crore for the full financial year.

"It is a demand-driven programme. The Centre must provide the required funds as it is a legal commitment," said economist Jayati Ghosh. Activist Nikhil Dey said the job scheme's wage dues in Andhra alone were around Rs 156 crore.

The Telegraph, 7 January, 2016, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160107/jsp/nation/story_62592.jsp#.Vo4HtVI1t_k


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