Although social activists and concerned economists demanded at least Rs. 1 lakh crore to be earmarked in favour of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Finance Minister in her budget speech on 1st February allocated only Rs.61,500 crore to it for the financial year 2020-21. As compared to the fund spent on MGNREGA in 2019-20 (i.e. revised estimate of Rs.71,001.81 crore), the amount set aside for the...
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Can MGNREGA be a tool for post-COVID-19 rural recovery -Shilp Verma
-Down to Earth Agriculture is the least-affected sector of the economy. It is poised to gain and lead economy’s revival process ‘Year of COVID-19’— this is how 2020 is probably going to be remembered. It has been more than six months that the novel coronavirus disease has been dominating public discourse, news cycles, internet searches and even geopolitics. As on July 8, 2020, India had more than 0.7 million cases. It was among...
More »Large sections of poor are unlikely to benefit from extension of food grains scheme -Swati Narayan
-The Indian Express Expansion and universalisation of the PDS, pensions, cash grants and employment guarantee schemes in both urban and rural areas are essential to tide through these difficult times. The Prime Minister’s extension of free food grains for 800 million Indians till November is undoubtedly a relief. The granaries of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) are overflowing with more than 100 million tonnes of food grains. But the economy has,...
More »A safety net, post Covid: We need to provide minimum income for poor and vulnerable -C Rangarajan and S Mahendra Dev
-The Indian Express We need to provide minimum income for poor and vulnerable — cash transfers for women, increasing MGNREGA to 150 days in rural areas, introduction of Urban employment guarantee scheme. In the post corona crisis situation, India has to address many problems, of which two stand out. First, the improvement of our healthcare system and second, the need for the institution of a scheme to provide minimum income support to...
More »MGNREGA workers demand Rs. 600 as minimum daily wage rate, besides 200 days of employment and strict implementation of locally planned works
-Press release by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated June 29th, 2020 Today, workers in over sixty districts across eleven states of the country observed “NREGA Adhikar Diwas” by submitting a memorandum to the Prime Minister to demand an increase in the annual guarantee of work to 200 days per person, revision of the daily wage rate to Rs. 600 and strict implementation of schemes planned by the gram/ward sabha. The widespread disruptions to...
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