Omar questions NDA Govt.'s stand on MNREGA

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Friday questioned the NDA Government's move to pump in more funds to the MNREGA a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assessed the rural employment scheme as 'living proof of the Congress party's failure'.

"I don't get it, if #MNREGA is a monument to failure why is more money being pumped into it? Something doesn't add up here. #Budegt2015," Omar tweeted.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who presented the Union Budget for fiscal 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha, said that the government at the Centre is committed to ensuring employment through MNREGA.

"Our government is committed to supporting employment through MNREGA. We will ensure that no one who is poor is let without employment," he said.

"We will focus on improving the quality and effectiveness of activities under MNREGA. I have made an initial allocation of Rs 34,699 crores for this programme," he added.

Jaitley also announced that the government would allocate Rs. 5,000 crores to the existing MNREGA funds.

Prime Minister Modi had earlier on Thursday pledged that he would ensure that the MNREGA is never discontinued.

"It is proof of the Congress' failure. After so many years of being in power, all you were able to deliver is for a poor man to dig ditches a few days a month," he said in the Parliament.