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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Vasundhara Raje turns to MGNREGA as hailstorms cause devastation of crops across 26 districts -Akshay Deshmane

Vasundhara Raje turns to MGNREGA as hailstorms cause devastation of crops across 26 districts -Akshay Deshmane

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published Published on Mar 25, 2015   modified Modified on Apr 8, 2015
-The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who had demanded scrapping of the MGNREGA last year, has now turned to the same law for helping her tide over a crisis. With hailstorms causing massive devastation of crops in 26 of the total 33 districts in early March - and Congress president Sonia Gandhi coming down to join protests against the state administration - among the multiple relief packages for farmers announced by Raje, is move to provide additional 'wage employment' funded from state coffers to the 2.26 lakh workers who have already received 100 days of work under MGNREGA.

The central law guarantees employment for 100 days in various civic works funded by the union government.

But the state government has decided to provide "additional wage employment on its own to 2.26 lakh workers who have already worked for 100 days" and are in need of sources of livelihood after hailstorms, explained Rohit Kumar, secretary of disaster management and relief department. No funding limits have been set for this, he added.

The decision is striking because, in a letter to the Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari last year, Raje had said, "It is difficult to see the advantages of an Act, except that it can lead to increased litigation by all manner of organisations. Whether it is to be NREGA or NREGS is a matter of debate and decision". According to officials present at the March 19 meeting, where Raje announced this decision, not much debate happened before taking this decision as "she was clear that providing employment will help the needy".

Those who work on MGNREGA related issues seemed surprised about the decision. "It has come as a welcome surprise. Last year, she had argued for converting it into a scheme instead of an Act. In the recent past, Odisha had also provided 150 days employment to control stress migration, apart from some drought affected states," said Pramathesh Ambasta of the national consortium on NREGA.

Economist Jean Dreze, who played a key role in drafting the act, said, "It may be more of a symbolic announcement, we will have to see how it is implemented on ground. I don't think it (seeking scrapping of MGNREGA) was her own idea or she was advised...I don't think she had thought that thing through, and it's unclear if she has thought this thing through, either. I feel we are not getting a clear message from the BJP on (the party's) social policy. There is certainly an element of austerity, but there are times when they realise these things are important for people and, in this case for example, she may have realised that she has to do something. What is lacking is a sustained commitment to programs like NREGA that help poor people".

Last week, barely a day before Congress president Sonia Gandhi was to begin her tour of hailstorm-affected districts, Raje had her own day long visits to similar areas. Despite the state administration's own survey of losses not having been concluded yet, Raje announced several measures for providing relief the same day. Among them was a measure to, as a statement from the chief minister's office put it, "provide additional employment in hailstorm affected gram panchayats to workers who have already worked for 100 days under MGNREGA till March 31".


The Economic Times, 24 March, 2015, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/vasundhara-raje-turns-to-mgnrega-as-hailstorms-cause-devastation-of-crops-acrorss-26-districts/articles


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