 "Arun Jaitley")
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday claimed credit for his government having revived the rural employment guarantee scheme. At another event, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said the government was now praising a scheme it had severely critricised earlier.
“After calling NREGA 'living monument of INC failure' Govt now hails it as cause of 'national pride and celebration'! Shining example of Modiji's political wisdom,” Gandhi tweeted. The Congress also launched a social media campaign to highlight the successes of MNREGA.
Addressing a conference to mark 10 years of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Jaitley said the scheme was a major engine for India’s continuing economic growth, when much of the world was experiencing an economic slowdown. The scheme also ensured welfare of a large number of people but was treated with apathy during the last year of the United Progressive Alliance-II (UPA-II) government. “When the government changed in 2014, I would get to hear, both inside Parliament and outside, speculation that allocation for the scheme would be stopped or a new scheme will be unveiled. But our government has not only taken it forward but also increased the money given to the scheme.”
The scheme, initiated by the Congress-led UPA-1 government, guarantees 100 days of paid employment in a financial year to a rural household.
Jaitley also claimed that his government had stopped the earlier “policy” of announcing funds for the scheme but reducing the amount later. The minister said Budget announcements grab headlines but little attention is paid when the government cut Plan expenditure later in the year. “But this will be the first year that has not only seen no cuts but expenditure being more than the original allocation,” Jailtey said.
The minister said there were obvious political and social reasons to strengthen MNREGA as a large population of people lived in rural areas.
With the private sector unlikely to contribute significantly to gross domestic product, the minister said, increased government spending would fuel rural and urban demand and help the country continue to grow at 7-7.5 per cent. Jaitley said the government planned to invest in rural areas, including in road construction, electrification, healthcare and education. “Currently, the private sector is not contributing significantly. Monsoon has been poor in the last two years that is affected farm production and rural purchasing power. In such a situation, government spending on infrastructure development has increased. Foreign investments have increased and urban demand has increased.”
Jaitley pointed to several government schemes as drivers of rural development — rural electrification, construction of rural roads, PM’s village irrigation scheme and even the cleanliness campaign under which toilets are being constructed in villages.
Interest subvention on farm loans and the recent crop insurance scheme were some other efforts with rural focus, he said.
Addressing the event, Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said from April, 2016 all wage payments to MGNREGA workers will be done through ‘direct benefit transfer’. Currently, 94 per cent of the wage payments are directly deposited in the account of beneficiaries, Singh said.
Later in the day, several Congress leaders alleged that the NDA government ignored MNREGA. “It reduced by 32 per cent and prevented 14 million people from falling into poverty. Unfortunate that such a scheme has languished due to step-motherly treatment by this current government,” said Jyotiraditya Scindia.
“Those who mocked it are now rushing to celebrate,” said Ahmed Patel.
National Conference’s Omar Abdullah tweeted: "BJP never tired of criticising MNREGA and are now selling it as if it was their gift to the nation.” Abdullah thanked former PM Manmohan Singh for launching the scheme.
