In the recent week, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has dealt three major, concerted blows to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA): (1) The Budget Allocation for NREGA was reduced to just Rs 60,000 crore in 2023-24 (less than Rs 50,000 crore if we deduct wage arrears from 2022-23). This makes this year’s allocation the lowest as a proportion of GDP (0.2%) in the history of the programme. (2) The...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Total Matching Records found : 1162
Jean Dreze: No Point In India Growing So Fast If Wages Stagnate And Social Spending Is Slashed - Shreehari Paliath
Budget 2023's allocations for most critical social security schemes have declined in real terms, says economist Jean Dreze - IndiaSpend The last full Union budget before the next general elections in 2024, which was presented on February 1, gets "a big zero" in terms of welfare spending from economist and social activist Jean Dreze. Budget Allocations for most critical social security schemes have declined in real terms, Dreze said. The Union government withdrew...
More »Expand PDS to include non-ration card holders and 10 crore excluded by using old census figures: Right to Food Campaign
A coalition of civil society activits has criticized the Union Budget 2023-24 for reducing government spending on the social sector by a massive amount. The economic crisis induced by the Covid-19 pandemic was borne disproportionately by those at the bottom of the pyramid and in this context spending on social protection schemes such as the Public Distribution System, anganwadis, pensions and MGNREGA is especially important. But the Government of India has...
More »PM Awas Yojana in Uttar Pradesh likely to reach saturation point by 2024 - Vatsala Gaur
Economic Times The significant increase in budgetary outlay for the PM Awas Yojana is expected to enable Uttar Pradesh to provide houses to all remaining rural beneficiaries of the scheme in the upcoming financial year leading to the PMAY(Rural) quota in the state being filled completely ("saturated") by 2024, when the general elections will be held. Allocation for PMAY saw a 66% increase to Rs. 79,000 crore in the Union budget tabled...
More »Budget 2023-24: NREGA, Food Subsidy, Mid day meal allocations cut drastically
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), National Food Security Act (NFSA) are schemes whose allocations have been cut drastically in Budget 2023-24, while the Mid-Day Meals budget has also seen a sharp drop. An analysis by the Accountability Initiative (AI) at the Centre for Policy Research reveals that in the case of NREGA and NFSA, the reduction has been over 30 percent! The budget for Mid-Day meals...
More »
