Asserting that MNREGA is here to stay in its “tranformed” form, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the NDA Government has increased spending under the rural jobs scheme to a record high and will for the first time release more funds than budgeted.
As MNREGA completed ten years, the NDA Government claimed the rural job guarantee scheme was in a “pitiable” state under the UPA’s rule due to frequent curtailing of funds. The scheme provides 100 days of work to the poor in rural areas.
Asserting that schemes are “not cast in stone” and their modification is required with the passage of time, Jaitley said MNREGA underwent a major change under the NDA’s rule and new initiatives were taken besides increasing the fund allocation for the scheme so that its benefits could reach the people in a better way.
The Minister also hinted at the Government’s plans to put in more money in rural areas, including road construction, electrification, healthcare and education in the forthcoming Union Budget with an aim to fuel both rural and urban demand and help the country continue its 7 to 7.5 per cent growth despite a global economic slowdown.
He was addressing a MNREGA Sammelan organised to mark the completion of ten years of the scheme here by the Union Rural Development Ministry.
While rejecting views in some quarters that the BJP Government is neglecting the jobs scheme, Jaitley claimed that during the UPA’s rule, final spending used to be lower than what was budgeted under the scheme.
While in previous years there has always been lower spending as compared to the Budgeted amount, this fiscal the Government has not cut Plan Expenditure as it wanted to boost growth, said Jaitley.
“This (NDA) Government has not followed the practice of just making higher provisions and later cutting them. Perhaps this would be the first year when the Rs 34,000 to Rs 35,000 crore which was allocated has not only been spent fully, but also some more resources could be given to MGNREGA,” he said.
The Finance Minister said the actual spending under the scheme in the fiscal year ending March 31 “would be the highest”.
While detailing virtues of the scheme as a major engine in contributing to India’s continuing economic growth when much of the rest of the world was experiencing economic slowdown, he said, there are obvious political and social reasons to strengthen MNREGA since a large population of India lives in rural areas.
“However, there is an economic rationale as well given the worldwide economic slowdown,” Jaitley said. He said economies of Brazil, South Africa, Russia and even China, which were till sometime ago compared to India, are experiencing slow or even negative growth. But India is continuing to grow at 7 to 7.5 per cent.
“Currently, the private sector is not contributing significantly. Monsoon has been so poor in the last two years that is affected farm production and rural purchasing power. In such a situation, the Government spending on infrastructure development has increased. Foreign investments have increased and urban demand has increased,” he said.
The Finance Minister said the economic slowdown in the major economies of the world or the price of oil is beyond India’s control, but what it can do is to spur growth in rural areas. Interest subvention on farm loans and the recently-launched crop insurance scheme were some other Government efforts with rural focus, he said.
Jaitley said as many as 1.75 crore people have already benefitted from loans from the MUDRA bank, and it helps those who are also the beneficiaries of MNREGA. He said MNREGA not only helped in economic growth but ensured welfare of the largest number of people.
In his address, Union Minister for Rural Development, Birender Singh said that 2015-16 has seen a revival of the MGNREGA programme due to a slew of reforms undertaken by his ministry.