Lok Sabha Question No. 2592 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-02
Subject: Irregularities under MGNREGS
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Sumedhanand Saraswati

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2576 ANSWERED ON 02/08/2022

## ALLOCATIONS UNDER MGNREGS

## 2576.   SHRI KANUMURU RAGHU RAMA KRISHNA RAJU:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is less allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee  Scheme  in  the  FY  2022-23  budget  and  the  All  India  Kisan  Sabha  and NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM) have raised concerns about the inadequacy of the amount  as  the  grassroots  activists  and  academics  have  been  demanding  higher budgetary  allocations  for  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS);
- (b) if  so,  whether  the  actual  allocations  have  been  considerably  lower  and  severely inadequate  to  meet  needs  and  also  the  initial  allocations  in  the  past  two  Financial Years  have  been  just  about  half  of  what  was  recommended  by  groups  like  the People's Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) and NSM;
- (c) whether the consistent shortage of funds has caused a situation endemic  to MGNREGS  -  that  of  deficits  for  the  State  Governments,  long  delays  in  wage payments since 2014 onwards; and
- (d) if so, the year-wise details thereof along with the corrective steps being taken in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

(a)  to  (d): No,  Sir.  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) is a demand driven wage employment Scheme which provides for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It provides livelihood  security,  i.e.  fall  back  options  for  livelihood  for  the  rural  households,  when  no better employment opportunity is available.

The detail of Budget Estimate, Revised Estimate and fund released under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS in the financial years 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 201920, 2020-21, 2021-22 and current financial year 2022-23 (as on 27.07.2022) is given below:

(Rs. in crore)

|   S. No. | Year    | Budget Estimate   | Revised Estimate   | Fund released   |
|----------|---------|-------------------|--------------------|-----------------|
|        1 | 2014-15 | 34,000.00         | 33,000.00          | 32,977.43       |
|        2 | 2015-16 | 34,699.00         | 37,345.95          | 37,340.72       |
|        3 | 2016-17 | 38,500.00         | 48,220.26          | 48,219.05       |
|        4 | 2017-18 | 48,000.00         | 55,167.06          | 55,166.06       |

|   5 | 2018-19   | 55,000.00   | 61,830.09   | 61,829.5 5   |
|-----|-----------|-------------|-------------|--------------|
|   6 | 2019-20   | 60,000.00   | 71,001.81   | 71,687.71    |
|   7 | 2020-21   | 61,500.00   | 1,11,500.00 | 1,11,170.86  |
|   8 | 2021-22   | 73,000.00   | 98,000.00   | 98,467.85    |
|   9 | 2022-23   | 73,000.00   | -           | 36,677.79    |

(As on 27.07.2022)

Fund  release  to  States/UTs  is  a  continuous  process  and  Central  Government  is committed in making funds available to States/UTs for the implementation of the Scheme. The  Ministry  seeks  additional  funds  under  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS  from  Ministry  of Finance as and when required for meeting the demand for work on the ground.

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