Centre indifferent to rural livelihoods: Jairam Ramesh on neglect of MNREGA

The Congress on Sunday, 2 February, lashed out at the government over keeping the MGNREGS budget stagnant, saying the "neglect" of this crucial safety net exposes its indifference to rural livelihoods.

The Union Budget allocation for the flagship rural employment programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Scheme (MGNREGS), was Rs 86,000 crore — the same as last year.

In 2023–24, the allocation for MGNREGS was Rs 60,000 crore, but additional funds were provided and the actual expenditure stood at Rs 89,153.71 crore, the Budget document showed. No additional allocations for MGNREGS were made in 2024–25.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary (in-charge, communications) Jairam Ramesh said that despite rising rural distress, the government has kept the MGNREGA budget stagnant at Rs 86,000 crore for 2024–26 —for two years.

This effectively represents a decline in the real allocations (adjusted for price rise) made to MGNREGA, he said.

"To add insult to injury, estimates suggest that about 20 per cent of the budget is paid towards clearing dues from previous years," Ramesh said.

This effectively reduces MGNREGA's reach, leaving drought-hit and poor rural workers stranded, he added.

It also precludes any increase in the wages paid to workers, Ramesh said.

‘Even in this ongoing Financial Year, the minimum average notified wage rate was increased by only 7 per cent. This is at a time when the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation is estimated to be 5 per cent. MGNREGA is therefore Ground Zero for the national crisis of wage stagnation," he said.

The government's neglect of this crucial safety net exposes its indifference to rural livelihoods, Ramesh said.

The MGNREGS guarantees 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to at least one member of every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It keeps at least one-third of jobs for women.

In the Covid pandemic year of 2020–21, when MGNREGS proved a lifeline in providing employment in rural areas amid huge reverse migration in the lockdown period, Rs 1,11,169 crore was spent on the scheme, according to previous budget documents.