MGNREGA, PMAY allocation dip slightly, overall budget for rural welfare schemes raised by 4.4 pc

The government has raised the budgetary allocation for flagship welfare schemes under the Rural Development Ministry to Rs 1.17 lakh crore and reduced funds for rural employment scheme MGNREGA and PMAY (rural) for the 2019-2020 fiscal.

The revised estimate for rural welfare schemes in 2018-19 was Rs 1.12 lakh crore.

According to the budget document, the allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MNREGA) was decreased from Rs 60,000 crore for 2019-20 fiscal from 2018-19 revised estimate of Rs 61,084 crore.

The provision for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (rural) for 2019-20 fiscal declined to Rs 19,000 crore from the 2018-19 revised estimate of Rs 19,900 crore.

PMAY is a flagship scheme of the government for achieving the 'housing for all' objective by 2022. The government aims to provide 1.95 crore more homes by the end 2021-22 financial year.

Referring to 'housing for all' in her budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "A total of 1.54 crore rural homes have been completed in the last five years. In the second phase of PMAY-G, during 2019-20 to 2021-22, 1.95 crore houses are proposed to be provided to eligible beneficiaries."