Centre allocates ₹73,000 crore for MGNREGA for 2021-22 fiscal
The hike in MGNREGA allocation comes a week after Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik of the Biju Janata Dal announced an assistance package of ₹532 crore for 32 lakh MGNREGA workers
The Centre has allocated ₹73,000 crore at the Budget Estimate stage for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) for the 2021-22 fiscal year. The allocated budget is 34% less than the revised estimate of ₹1,11,500 crore 2020-21 financial year, a statement released by the ministry of rural development on Tuesday revealed.
However, in terms of budgetary allocation, there has been an increase of ₹11,500 crore, from ₹61,500 crore to ₹73,000 crore during the period under review.
The hike in MGNREGA allocation comes a week after Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) announced an assistance package of ₹532 crore for 32 lakh MGNREGA workers, who have worked in the state for the past three months. In addition to the daily wage of ₹207 that workers are given under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, they will receive an additional ₹50 for each day of work done, said a press release from panchayati raj department.
MGNREGA is a socio-economic measure introduced by the United Progressive Alliance government in 2005. It provides at least 100 days of employment to adult members of every household, in a bid to provide livelihood security in rural areas.
“During the previous financial year 2020-21, at least 11.19 crore people were provided employment and more than 389.23 crore person-days were generated. In the current financial year 2021-22 (as on 23.07.2021), 6.51 crore persons have been provided employment and more than 130.9 crore person-days have been generated under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. During the financial year 2020-21, an amount Rs. 1, 11, 170.86 crore has been released and an amount of Rs. 41,187.06 crore has been released in current financial year 2021-22 (as on 20.07.2021) for the implementation of the programme,” the ministry said in the release.
Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of beneficiaries enrolled under the MGNREGA scheme, followed by the states of Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the ministry said.