The Government on Tuesday claimed that the MGNREGA beneficiaries, who had distanced themselves from the scheme due to various reasons particularly delay and fraud in payment, are now once again returning to the rural employment scheme. After witnessing a decline from 212 crore man-days to 153 crore man-days in the UPA regime, the scheme is back on track with the man-days going up to 235 crore.
A report on the assessment of the MGNREGA, which was released on Tuesday, also said that the programme has helped reach irrigation potential in 46.43 lakh hectares with a range of natural resource management initiatives such as ponds, dams, wells, check dams, afforestation, water shed management works etc and benefited 33.61 lakh people.
Union Rural Development Minister Birender Singh, who released the report ‘Performance, Initiatives and Strategies FY 2015-16 and FY 2016-17’ at a national conference of State Panchayati Raj Ministers here, claimed the timely payment of wages resulted in bringing back beneficiaries.
“The 49-day average is highest in past eight years. The previous highest was 46. Also, last year the MGNREGA budget was Rs37,000 crore, while the expenditure stands at over Rs43,000 crore. So, the expenditure is additional Rs6,000 crore. Two hundred thirty-five crore person-days is also a five-year record,” Singh told reporters.
“What I want to say is the MGNREGA beneficiaries, who had distanced themselves from the scheme because of delay in payment, frauds committed, resulting in falls in man-days from 212 crore man-days to 153 crore man-days, have again taken interest in the work with the man-days going up to 235 crore,” he added.
Singh said the Government took several measures to ensure benefits reach those deserving and listed preparation of job cards with the help of AADHAR, crediting funds to beneficiaries through Electronic Fund Management System and others as part of the efforts.
Singh also rejected claims that the scheme’s implementation has been poor in BJP-ruled States like Goa Gujarat and Haryana. According to the report, no household was benefited through individual asset creation in these States.
He said, “The performance has not been poor. In many States, people do not come to the fore for MGNREGA works because there are other works to do which offer better payments.”
On complaints, especially from drought-hit areas, that beneficiaries did not get enough works, the Minister said that the onus of generating jobs rested with gram panchayats and State Governments concerned.
During the current financial year (from April to June 2016), the pace of person-days generation with a major focus on water conservation and harvesting measures has been “impressive”, the report said.
“It is expected to generate nearly 75 crore person-days of wage employment during the current quarter. This is significantly higher than the person days generated last year during the corresponding period,” Singh said during his speech.
According to the report, of the total person-days’ employment generated, the participation rate of those from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in 2015-16 was 22 per cent and 18 per cent respectively. The report claimed 48.54 lakh households and 28.35 lakh households from drought-hit States were provided at least 100 days of employment.
Among other, the report identified unrealistic and improper planning at gram panchayat-level, delays in wage payment, fund constraints, quality and durability of assets, low awareness of the programme, lack of outcome-based monitoring, poor maintenance of records, inadequate capacity of functionaries, lack of adequate number of technical staff etc as challenges faced in implementation of the rural job scheme.