More funds sought for MGNREGA if budget falls short: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Civil society says claims of timely release, funds increase misleading; threaten protest from December 6

Schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) are demand-based and if the allocated budget falls short, more funds are sought from the finance ministry based on state demands with continuous revisions made accordingly, Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan reiterated on Wednesday.

 

Addressing the media, he said in the first eight months of this financial year, his ministry had spent almost 56 per cent of the allocated budget, which is a big achievement.

 

The minister’s remarks came as civil society workers and activists associated with MGNREGA Sangharsh Morcha termed ‘misleading’ the claims of the ruling NDA government that it had increased the NREGA budget annually by Rs 20,000 crores and that wages were paid on time.

 

Noting that it only Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) were generated on time, renowned economist Jean Dreze pointed out that crediting of workers’ accounts was delayed by weeks or months.

 

Addressing a press conference, Dreze and others said that imposition of ‘arbitrary, opaque and unjustified’ technical interventions like the Aadhar-Based Payments System (ABPS) and online attendance under the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) had led to the mass deletion of job cards, amounting to almost 90 million.

 

The Morcha has called for a two-day protest starting from December 6 against the inadequate budget and arbitrary technical interventions in the scheme.

 

Meanwhile, Chouhan said the government was planning to revamp the feedback mechanism in MGNREGA by updating the existing JanMGNREGA app, which would ensure proactive disclosure of information to citizens.

 

He also warned that if any state identifies shortcomings in MNREGA and PM Awas Yojana, action will be taken against it. The minister said the Centre was not discriminating against West Bengal, which he blamed for not complying with the Union government's directives.

 

"We are concerned about the poor people in West Bengal. We have asked for certain compliances, and if the state fulfils them, we will consider it," Chouhan said.

 

His response to a query on how to end the tussle between the state and the centre. According to the Ministry of Rural Development, funds for West Bengal under MGNREGA have been stopped since March 2022 due to non-compliance with directives of the Central government.

 

"West Bengal has received funds under PM Sadak Yojana because there were no discrepancies in that. We give funds for a purpose. If that purpose is not met, if names of schemes are changed, non-eligible people are made beneficiaries, and standards are not followed, should we not ask for answers? Should we keep giving money?," Chouhan asked.

 

"The Centre has the right to conduct a probe. It was done, irregularities were found, so we had to take action," he said.

 

The minister added that action will be taken if similar irregularities are found in other states.

 

Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Chouhan strongly refuted Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee's allegation that Central funds under various welfare schemes were not released to West Bengal.

 

Chouhan also accused the West Bengal government of diverting Central funds and making "undeserving" people beneficiaries of welfare schemes.

 

Trinamool Congress has been repeatedly accusing the Union government of depriving the state of Central funds. It is also among the key issues the party plans to raise during the ongoing Winter session of Parliament.

 

Performance of Rural Development Ministry

 

Rural Houses - Of the newly approved target of 2 crore houses, nearly 38 lakh houses have been allocated to 18 states, and Rs 10,668 crore in funds have been released to these states.

 

Rural Roads – 6,614 km approved from June to December 2024

 

Lakhpati Didis - Over 10 million since June

 

MGNREGA - 123 crore person days of work generated since June 2024

 

-         Rs 46,907 crore of Central funds released

 

-         43.81 lakh works completed