-TheWire.in Two supplementary MNREGA allocations were made by the government last year. This means, there’s only a 1%, not 25%, actual increase in this year’s Budget. New Delhi: The finance minister claimed that this year’s Budget Allocations for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) were a new “record”, at Rs 48,000 crore. But is this really a substantial increase? And, more importantly, is it enough? The 2016-17 Budget had...
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Budget 2017: What finance minister Arun Jaitley said versus what the numbers show -Samarth Bansal
-Hindustan Times The budget is about policy, and the budget speech has to strike a balance with politics. How well do they match? The allocation for MGNREGA is up 1% What Jaitley said: “Honourable Members would be happy to note that the budget provision of Rs. 38,500 crores under MGNREGA in 2016-17 has been increased to Rs. 48,000 crores in 2017-18. This is the highest ever allocation for MGNREGA.” What the numbers say: Yes,...
More »Big purse for job scheme, still short
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre today proposed its highest ever Budget Allocation for the rural job guarantee scheme but critics rued that the increase was just Rs 500 crore over the revised allocation last year. Finance minister Arun Jaitley announced Rs 48,000 crore for projects and payment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, flagging the hike from the Rs 38,500 crore allocated last year (See chart). Social activists, however,...
More »Farmer bodies want income guarantee -Sanjeeb Mukherjee
-Business Standard The organisations demanded higher budgetary allocation for irrigation Some farmers’ organisations have demanded the Centre announce an income guarantee law for them to ensure a minimum income when crops fail and also when prices crash due to a bumper harvest. To be called the Remunerative and Universal Price Yield Assurance (RUPYA) Act, the legislation would guarantee a price deficiency payment in the event of a price crash, a market intervention scheme...
More »Official data exposes Centre's inflated claims on success of agriculture insurance scheme -Jitendra
-Down to Earth The number of non-loanee farmers opting for insurance reached 9.7 million in kharif season of 2016 as against 9.8 million in the same period in 2015 On December 7, the Union Ministry of Agriculture press release claimed that that the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has made impressive progress in 2016. According to the press release, “There has been a quantum jump of more than six times...
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