Contrary to his predecessor Nitin Gadkari’s plans, new Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has no intention of diluting the rural job scheme MNREGA to make it restricted to poor and backward districts.
The former Haryana Congress stalwart, who joined the BJP ahead of the State Assembly polls praised MNREGA — the flagship scheme of the erstwhile UPA Government — even as he made it clear that Rs40,000 crore allocated for the scheme was for the entire country and “not for any specific region”.
The Minister was talking to the reporters soon after taking charge of the Ministry which was held so far by Gadkari as additional charge following the death of Gopinath Munde in a road accident.
“In this country, there are people who had never seen a Rs500 note. The poorest of the poor...we have been able to reach them through MNREGA,” he said when asked about his views on his predecessor Gadkari’s proposal to restrict the rural job scheme to poor parts of the country.
He, however, acknowledged that there were some problems in implementation of the scheme that was launched in 2005 by the UPA Government. “As far as the working of MNREGA is concerned, if there are lacunae, we will correct them,” Singh said.
During his stint as Rural Development Minister, Gadkari had indicated that he may restrict MNREGA only to tribal and backward districts of the country.
Gadkari had said that the MNREGA guaranteeing up to 100 days of unskilled work in a year to every rural household was not required in areas having higher growth. His proposal had evoked strong protest from economists, activists and some political parties who argued that it would affect the poor of the country. MNREGA has been an important source of income for millions of rural households.
When asked about his views on the thinking within the Government for amendment in the farmer-friendly land Acquisition law to address concern of the industry, he said that being the son of a farmer himself, he would ensure farmers get due compensation.
Gadkari had indicated that the Government may change some provisions of the land Acquisition law, introduced by the erstwhile Congress-led Government, to address concerns of the industry such as the rising cost of acquiring land and procedural delays. “We will take consensus from all stakeholders before introducing it in the Parliament for its passage,” he added.