CM's panel may favour using MGNREGA for farmland fencing but for a village

A high powered panel of chief ministers is expected to endorse the contentious issue of using MGNREGA for fencing farmlands, under the condition that it is done for the village as a whole or cluster of hamlets and not on individual lands.  The panel was constituted by the Centre for integration of MGNREGA with agriculture.

Fencing of individual farmlands through MGNREGA was one of many works that the panel is expected to recommend for taking up under the scheme to expand its ambit.

The others include desilting of irrigation channels, the creation of market yards and small marketing structure in villages and also agro-forestry and other activities for the village as a whole, officials said.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in one of his presentations to the panel, of which he is also part had reportedly favoured using MGNREGA labour for building fences on individual farmlands to prevent attacks from stray animals.

The panel is chaired by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Stray animal attacks have assumed dangerous proportions in western parts of Uttar Pradesh leading to loss of standing crop to farmers. Fencing could prevent such attacks but would add on to the already high inputs cost.

As a mid-way, a proposal was mooted to use MGNREGA for building fences in private land.

However, the proposal along with the move to expand MGNREGA into newer areas had met with strong opposition from a section of civil society on the grounds that any expansion of MGNREGA should not lead to subsidizing private farm labour. It should instead create gainful employment in rural areas.

To this, senior officials said the panel isn’t likely to recommend anything, which will alter the fundamental character of MGNREGA and also works which are permissible under the Act would be taken up.

That apart, the panel is also not likely to recommend any wage increase for MGNREGA labour to align it with minimum wages in states.

The Shivraj Singh panel has held five regional workshops in Patna, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Guwahati and New Delhi to discuss with experts, farmers and farmer’s representatives and other stakeholders along with State governments to discuss various options through which, MGNREGA can be better integrated with farming activities.