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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Fewer jobs as Delhi 'neglects' rural scheme -Basant Kumar Mohanty

Fewer jobs as Delhi 'neglects' rural scheme -Basant Kumar Mohanty

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published Published on Mar 16, 2015   modified Modified on Mar 16, 2015
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: Millions of villagers are on course to missing out on livelihood-sustaining work under the national job scheme this year if figures released by the government are any indication.

The figures suggest that by the time this financial year draws to a close, far fewer families will have benefited under the scheme compared with 2013-14, while the number of persondays of work generated would also drop significantly.

According to official data furnished by junior rural development minister Sudarshan Bhagat in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) had generated 135 crore persondays of work till February 17.

The scheme, which provides for up to 100 days of work in a year for every rural household, generated 220 crore persondays in 2013-14.

The number of households covered under the scheme was 48 million in 2013-14. The coverage till the middle of February this year was a little over 38 million

Experts said the scheme, a flagship project started by the UPA government, was unlikely to generate 85 crore mandays of work in the 40-odd days remaining in this year - counted from February 17 - and might not cover another 10 million families.

The corresponding figures for both 2011-12 and 2012-13 were higher than this year too: they show that the scheme generated 218 crore persondays of work in 2011-12 and 230 crore persondays in 2012-13.

The number of households employed was also higher - 50.6 million in 2011-12 and 49.8 million in 2012-13 - Bhagat said in a written reply.

Social activist and former National Advisory Council (NAC) member Harsh Mander said the demand-driven scheme, implemented by panchayats, had been neglected ever since the BJP-led NDA assumed power at the Centre. "It is impossible to match the achievements of last year in generation of persondays and coverage of households. This is because the government has been systematically neglecting the scheme," Mander said.

Many states, including Bengal and Tripura, have complained that implementation has been affected because the central government, which shares the cost of material with states but bears the full expense on wages, delayed releasing funds.

Jean Dreze, a former NAC member and economist, said he too had great doubts whether employment generation in this financial year would come "anywhere" near the corresponding figures last year. "The central government certainly bears a heavy responsibility for this - there have been unprecedented problems with the flow of funds this year, mainly due to the central government's lack of commitment to the programme."

Mander said the ministry had selected 2,500 of the country's 6,500 blocks for focus, which means the scheme - which involves mostly labour-intensive work like de-silting of water bodies and building embankments and roads, as decided by the panchayat concerned - might not be getting the attention required.

The government had set aside Rs 34,000 crore for the scheme for 2014-15 but the finance ministry had cut the allocation by Rs 3,000 crore in December. The allocation for 2015-16 is Rs 34,695 crore.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who has denied that the scheme is being neglected, has said the government might give another Rs 5,000 crore, depending on the availability of funds.

Mander, however, said workers were not getting wages on time. "If poor workers have to wait for months to get their wages, they would not be interested to place demands for work. That is why there has been a drop in job creation and coverage of households."

Under the scheme, panchayats are to hold gram sabhas where families can place their demand for jobs.

Social activist Shekhar Singh said the decline in the number of beneficiaries would ideally mean that the economic condition of villagers had improved.

"But the economic condition of all rural people has not improved. There is still distress migration of labour. What is clear is that panchayat officials are not accepting the demand for MGNREGA work," he said.

Since the panchayats don't get funds on time, they don't entertain the demand for work, he added.


The Telegraph, 15 March, 2015, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150316/jsp/nation/story_8985.jsp#.VQaWAOFr9U8


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