Centre’s outlay for rural jobs scheme jumps over 3-fold to R
Centre’s outlay for rural jobs scheme jumps over 3-fold to Rs 7.81 lakh crore in last 10 years
The Central government has released more than Rs 7.81 lakh crore over the last 10 years from 2014-15 to 2024-25, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MNREGA), resulting in the creation of 8.07 crore rural assets
NEW DELHI — The Central government has released more than Rs 7.81 lakh crore
over the last 10 years from 2014-15 to 2024-25, under the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MNREGA), resulting in the
creation of 8.07 crore rural assets, according to an official statement issued
on Wednesday.
This represents a sharp increase from the allocation of
Rs 2.13 lakh crore in the previous decade (2006-07 to 2013-14) which resulted
in the creation of 1.53 crore rural assets, it said.
The number of person-days of employment created under the
scheme have gone up by 82 per cent to 3,029 crores.
"Over the last 10 years, the government’s increased
efforts have led to a remarkable increase in the creation of rural assets which
is evident from over 526 per cent increase in the rural assets which are
geotagged and of better quality. Moreover, due to continued focus on women
empowerment, the participation of women has increased from 48 per cent in FY
2013-14 to over 58 per cent in the current FY 2024-25," the Ministry of
Rural Development statement said.
The annual allocation for the scheme has jumped from Rs
1,660 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 86,000 crore in the Budget for 2025-26.
The work taken up under MNREGA is related to agriculture
and allied activities, natural resource management, and rural infrastructure.
Various water-related works such as check dams, farm
ponds, community ponds and irrigation open wells are taken up under the scheme.
The government's continued thrust on water conservation has yielded remarkable
results, with a 35 per cent reduction in the number of water-stressed rural
blocks from 2264 to 1456 in the last decade, the statement said.
Another major success is in the form of Mission Amrit
Sarovar, which has led to the creation of over 68,000 Amrit Sarovars in the
country in Phase I. Currently, Phase II of Mission Amrit Sarovar has been
rolled out with a renewed focus on water availability with community
participation, Jan Bhagidari, at its core.
The government’s focus on improving the livelihood
opportunities for the most vulnerable sections of the society has also resulted
in the substantial increase in the creation of individual assets from 17.6 per
cent in FY 2013-14 to 56.99 per cent in FY 2024-25, according to the statement.
The ABPS (Aadhaar-based Payment System) and the NMMS
(National Mobile Monitoring System) have been introduced as major reform
processes to ensure the effective implementation of this scheme. For instance,
the ABPS helps in better targeting, increasing the efficiency of the system,
and reducing the delays in the payments arising out of frequent changes in the
bank account, thereby, ensuring better inclusion, and curbing leakages.
As on date, Aadhaar seeding has been accomplished for
13.45 crores (99.49 per cent) active workers under the MGNREGA, whereas in
2014, Aadhaar seeding was done for only 76 lakh workers. Similarly, the NMMS
has brought about enhanced transparency in the implementation of MGNREGA.
Electronic real-time attendance capturing through NMMS has streamlined the
timely creation of muster rolls as well as the elimination of fake attendance.
Moreover, in case of exceptional circumstances, there is a provision for
approving manual attendance at the field level, the statement said.
The government has been continuously working on improving
the transparency and accountability in Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. The adoption of
National Electronic Fund Management System (NeFMS) and ABPS in the current
decade have made MGNREGA, the biggest DBT Scheme in the country with 100 per
cent of the wage disbursement is being done electronically.
Earlier in the absence of such mechanisms, there was a
possibility of leakages as the payment of wages through e-FMS was merely 37 per
cent in 2013. Similarly, other path-breaking digital initiatives like GIS-based
planning, Geo-tagging of assets, SECURE for estimate calculation etc. have made
this scheme one of the most transparently run schemes in the country.
Moreover, enhanced focus on social audit, inspections
through the Area Officer App and other interventions have resulted in a robust
monitoring framework which was absent before 2014, the statement added.
