Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Saturday allocated Rs.34,699 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, saying that the BJP government was committed to supporting employment through the rural job programme.
"Our government is committed to supporting employment through MGNREGA. I have made an initial allocation of Rs.34,699 crore for the programme," Jaitley said while presenting the union budget in the Lok Sabha.
Jaitley also said that the government "will ensure that no one who is poor is left without employment".
"We will focus on improving the quality and effectiveness of activities under MGNREGA," he added.
In October 2014, a group of activist had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over "diluting" the scheme introduced by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in 2005.
Jaitley also allocated Rs.5,300 crore to support micro-irrigation, watershed development and the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana.
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