Centre raps states for lapses in MGNREGS

The Centre has rapped the governments of some major states for substantial gaps between projected labour budget and actual person-days generated under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh recently shot off letters to the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and a few other states, requesting them to address problems that come in the way of implementation of the United Progressive Alliance government’s flagship programme to guarantee livelihood security to people living in villages.

The Rural Development Minister noted the “huge unmet demand” for projects under MGNREGS in Uttar Pradesh, although the state has a large number of poor people in its villages.

In his letter to Chief Minister Akhilesh Singh, Ramesh pointed out that although the labour budget for the state had projected generation of 33.95 crore person-days under the scheme in 2012-13, it could actually create just 41.34 per cent of the estimate.

Though the labour budget of Uttar Pradesh projected creation of 10.54 crore person-days in the last quarter of 2012-13, it could actually generate only 3.58 crore person-days, which is about 34.08 per cent of the estimate, he noted.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was passed by Parliament in 2005 to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household with adults ready to do unskilled manual work. The Act came into force in February, 2006.

Ramesh noted that the MGNREGS, being a demand-driven programme, did not suffer from paucity of funds. “The release of the Central share to the state depends largely on an agreed and realistic labour budget, how quickly and efficiently the state is able to utilise the fund available with it, and how it establishes an enriched and proficient demand management system by addressing various institutional or programmatic issues,” he wrote to Singh.

While the labour budget of Madhya Pradesh projected creation of 19.6 crore person-days in 2012-13, the state could actually generate only 65.34 per cent of the estimate.

“This gap between projection and achievement of the labour budget indicates that the processes (as mandated under Sections 13 to 16 of the MGNREG Act 2005), viz, identification and planning of works, consolidation of plans, preparation of appropriate shelf of projects, implementation of these projects through PRIs (Panchayat Raj Institutions) and their regular monitoring have not been fully adhered to,” Ramesh wrote to MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Punjab’s labour budget for the last financial year estimated generation of 71.92 lakh person-days, but the state could generate only 65.5 lakh person-days.

Andhra Pradesh’s labour budget estimated generation of 8.41 crore person-days in the last quarter of 2012-13, only 4.67 lakh could be created.

Karnataka’s labour budget for 2012-13 estimated generation 8.9 crore person-days under the MGNREGS, but the state could create only 6.22 crore person-days.