The suspense over the shape of the MNREGA ended on Thursday with the Modi Government proposing to focus on productivity and asset creation primarily in agriculture sector under the programme.
Soon after taking over the charge at the Centre, the NDA Government had made it clear that it will revamp the scheme to prevent its misuse and curb wasteful expenditure which was making it a burden for the exchequer. The outlay for the demand driven scheme is Rs 33,000 crore in 2014-15, similar to that in the previous year.
Tabling the Budget 2014-14, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the scheme is proposed to be made more development-oriented. It aims to renew our commitment to providing wage and self-employment opportunity in rural areas, he said.
launched by the UPA in 2007, the flagship programme guarantees up to 100 days of employment per household per year in the rural areas, but it had come under severe criticism for wasteful expenditure and corruption.
Questions surfaced about the fate of the MNREGA when Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje asked Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari to convert the MNREGA act into a scheme instead of a legally binding obligation. Opposing the suggestion, the Congress had said on Wednesday that it would protest against any dilution of the MNREGA.
The Finance Minister said that a sum of Rs 14,389 crore has been allocated to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) to improve rural connectivity even as a whopping budgetary allocation of Rs 80,093 crore in 2014-15 has been made against Rs 59,355 crore in 2013-14 to the Rural Development Ministry.
As the country faces drought-like situation, the Government has proposed a new programme ‘Neeranchal’ with an initial outlay of Rs 2,142 crore to further boost watershed development under the Ministry and meet water needs in the rural areas.
The Government has also planned to start up Village Entrepreneurship Programme to encourage rural youth to take up local entrepreneurship for which an initial sum of Rs 100 crore is to be provided.
Another scheme, Ajeevika, the National Rural livelihood Mission (NRlM), that aims to eliminate rural poverty through sustainable livelihood options will be extended to another 100 districts.