Lok Sabha Question No. 3345 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-16
Subject: Allocation and Expenditure under MGNREGS
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shobha Karandlaje

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3345 ANSWERED ON 16.03.2021

## ALLOCATION AND EXPENDITURE UNDER MGNREGS

## 3345.   KUMARI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government had ignored the current rural employment distress even though there  was  a  need  to  maximise  the  spending  in  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS) for enhancing rural demand;
- (b) if so, whether the Government has allocated Rs. 73,000 crore to MGNREGS for the fiscal 2021-22, substantially lower than the actual expenditure in the current fiscal;
- (c) if  so,  whether  this  reduction  will  limit  the  scope  of  employment  and  will  result  in indefinite delays in wage payments in the year 2021-22;
- (d) whether  the  allocation  for  MGNREGS  will  lead  to  reduction  in  the  number  of  person days  in  2021-22  from  what  the  job  generation  programme  has  achieved  in  the  current year;
- (e) whether the Government has reviewed the performance of MGNREGS, intends to review MIS system and correct the present gaps in implementation and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) the steps taken to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus-induced lockdown on the rural economy?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a)to(d):   Mahatma Gandhi NREG Scheme is a demand driven wage employment programme which  provides  at  least  one  hundred  days  of  guaranteed  wage  employment  in  every  financial year  to  every  rural  household  whose  adult  members  volunteer  to  do  unskilled  manual  work. During  FY  2020-21,  more  than  363  crore  person-days  have  been  generated  as  on  12.03.2021 which is approximately 40% more than the employment generated during the same period in FY 2019-20. During FY 2020-21, more than 1.75 crore new job cards have been issued so far which is 153% more than the total number of new job card issued during FY 2019-20. Government has enhanced  the  financial  allocation  under  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA  for  financial  year  2020-21 from Rs.61,500 crore at BE to Rs.1,11,500 crore at RE and so far about Rs.97,057 crore has been released in the current financial year.

An amount of Rs.73,000 crore has been allocated for FY 2021-22 as BE which is 18.69% more than  B.E.  of  FY  2020-21.  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA  is  a  demand  driven  wage  employment programme.  Fund  release  to  States/UTs  is  a  continuous  process  and  Central  Government  is committed in making funds available keeping in view the demand for work. The Ministry seeks additional  funds  from  Ministry  of  Finance  as  and  when  required  for  meeting  the  demand  for work on the ground.

(e): Monitoring  and  evaluation  is  a  continuous  process  in  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS.  The Ministry regularly reviews the performance of the States through various media viz., Mid-Term Review, Common Review Mission, Labour Budget meetings, National Level monitoring, virtual conference  meetings,  field  visits,  etc.  Depending  on  the  need  and  requirements  for  effective implementation of the programme, review and course correction is taken up.

(f):  Ministry of Finance, Government of India, on 26th March 2020, announced relief package under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) for the poor to help them fight the battle against Corona Virus. The relief package announced includes, inter-alia i. One-time ex-gratia payment of Rs 500 per month for 3 months (April, May and June 2020) to women  Jan  Dhan  Account  holders.  In  pursuance  of  this,  Ministry  of  Rural  Development (MoRD) implemented the scheme of relief package of one-time ex-gratia payment of Rs 500 per month for 3 months (April, May and June 2020) to women Jan Dhan Account holders through various Banks. More than Rs.30,900 crores has been released towards direct benefit transfers to 20.64 crore Women beneficiaries of Jan Dhan account holders under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) @ Rs. 500/- each for three months.

ii.  Ex-gratia of Rs.1000 in two instalments (Rs.500/- each) to the existing old age, widow and disabled/Divyangjan  beneficiaries  of  the  schemes  of  National  Social  Assistance  Programme (NSAP). A total of Rs. 2814.50 crore as ex-gratia was released in two tranches in April and May, 2020 to States/UTs under PMGKY for the existing 282 lakh beneficiaries of NSAP schemes.

iii.  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Act  (Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA) wage rate revised w.e.f. 1.4.2020 with average wage rate increase of Rs.20 over the wage rate of 2019-20.

iv. The collateral free credit limit for the Self Help Group (SHG) members under National Rural Livelihood Scheme (NRLM) enhanced from Rs.10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh.

Apart from this, Government of India launched the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) on 20th June, 2020 to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for returnee migrant workers and similarly affected citizens in rural area, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. The objectives of  the  Abhiyaan  were  to  provide  immediate  employment  &  livelihood  opportunities  to  the distressed, to saturate the villages with public infrastructure and creation of livelihood assets to boost the income generation activities and enhance long term livelihood opportunities by giving focus on 25 works in 116 selected districts across 6 States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha,  Rajasthan  and  Uttar  Pradesh.  The  Abhiyaan  has  started  with  resource  envelope  of Rs.50,000 Crore. The Abhiyaan is a convergent effort of ongoing schemes of 12 Ministries/Department of Central Government. A total of 50.78 crore Persondays employment has been generated during the Abhiyaan with an expenditure of Rs. 39292.81 crore.

Four schemes of the MoRD namely, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme  (Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS),  Pradhan  Mantri  AwaasYojana-  Gramin  (PMAY-G), Pradhan  Mantri  Gram  Sadak  Yojana  (PMGSY)  and  Shyama  Prasad  Mukherjee  RURBAN Mission (SPMRM) have been identified under the GKRA. The achievement in this regard is as under:

i. Under PMAY-G a total of 770522 houses have been sanctioned and 481210 houses completed with a total expenditure of Rs.5618.19 crore.

ii. Under PMGSY, as against the target of Rs. 2902 crore, an expenditure of Rs. 1529 crore has been incurred as on 30.11.2020.

iii.  Under  SPMRM,  the  development  works  in  47  Rurban  clusters  under  GKRA  have  been implemented with fast pace for providing employment and livelihood opportunities to the rural citizens.  During  the  abhiyaan  period,  13494  works  have  been  completed  against  the  target  of 13886  which  is  97%  of  overall  physical  target  and  Rs.  693.55  crore  expenditure  (including convergence expenditure) has been made which is 87% of financial targets taken by SPMRM under GKRA.

Other major steps taken by the MoRD under various schemes during the outbreak of Covid-19 are as under:

PMAY-G aims to provide assistance to eligible rural households for construction of 2.95 Crore Pucca houses with basic amenities to achieve the objective of 'Housing for All' by 2022. Efforts taken under PMAY-G during COVID are as under:

- a. Focus  on  completion  of  those  PMAY-G  houses  where  the  beneficiaries  have  received 2nd and 3rd installment
- b. Utilise  the  lockdown  period  to  upload  on  a  campaign  mode  details  of  physically completed houses on AwaasSoft
- c. Maximum sanctions to beneficiaries be issued against the 2020-21 targets.
- d. States/UTs advised to take up Rural Mason Training in a long way and that training can be conducted under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) mode.   In the current FY 64.71 lakh houses have been allocated to the States/UTs and 28.92 lakh houses  completed in PMAY-G and 1.04 lakhs houses in Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) at an expenditure of Rs. 43042.96 crore.

PMGSY was launched in the year 2000 as a measure towards alleviation of poverty in rural areas by  providing  access  to  basic  services  to  the  rural  population  by  providing  them  good  quality roads. During the period of COVID states were directed to accelerate the pace of works so as to create  more  employment  opportunities  and  boost  rural  economy.  Roughly,  41447  Km  works have been sanctioned in the FY 2020-21 in PMGSY III.

SPMRM is a unique programme, designed to deliver catalytic interventions to rural areas on the threshold  of  growth.  300  Rurban  Clusters  with  thematic  economic  growth  points,  are  being developed  across  the  country  under  this  Mission.  The  Ministry  had  issued  an  advisory  to  the States/UTs regarding modification in existing projects/works proposed in DPR of cluster due to Covid-19  pandemic  and  to  include  more  economic  activities  in  order  to  reboot  the  rural economy. Cluster wise consultations have been convened with PRI members, SHG representatives as well as State and district functionaries to identify issues and suggestions with respect to further improving the on-ground implementation of the Mission.

Deendayal  Antyodaya  Yojana  -  National  Rural  Livelihoods  Mission  (DAY-NRLM)  aims  to reduce  poverty  by  organizing  the  rural  poor  women  into  Self  Help  Groups  (SHGs),  and continuously nurturing and  supporting them  to take economic  activities till they attain appreciable  increase  in  income  over  a  period  of  time.  During  the  FY  2020-21  (till  February, 2021),  the  Ministry  of  Rural  Development  under  DAY-NRLM  facilitated  women  Self  Help Groups to leverage credit of Rs.63,527.92 crore from formal banking system for investing for continuation of their exiting economic ventures and also acquire new productive assets to start new enterprises.

There  are  two  other  skill  development  programmes  for  rural  poor  youth  under  DAY-NRLM, namely,  Deen  Dayal  Upadhyaya  Grameen  Kaushalya  Yojana  (DDU-GKY),  and  Rural  Self Employment  Training  Institutes (RSETIs).  Both  these schemes  are aimed  at increasing employability of rural poor youth either for wage or self-employment. After unlock orders and opening of training centres, under DDU-GKY a total of 20946 candidates have been trained and 44338  candidates  have  been  placed  in  jobs  during  the  current  financial  year  2020-21  (up  to February,  2021).  Under  RSETI  a  total  of  203643  candidates  have  been  trained  and  127108 candidates have been settled during the current Financial Year 2020-21(up to February, 2021).

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