Members in the Lok Sabha today said changes in the MNREGA scheme can be brought about by the government to reduce pilferages in the scheme, but its provisions should not be diluted.
As the House took up discussion on 'reported dilution of MNREGA' (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), members cutting across party lines made a case for continuation of the scheme to provide jobs to poor households.
Participating in the discussion, which remained inconclusive, Pralhad Joshi (BJP) said there was a need for changes in the scheme to check corruption, "but its provisions should not be diluted".
He said government has increased budgetary allocation for MNREGA in the current fiscal to Rs 34,000 crore, from Rs 33,000 crore last year.
"There was a need to conduct social audit to see if the physical assets which are created are commensurate with the money spent," Joshi said.
Making a case for usage of information technology for better functioning of the scheme, Prahlad Singh Patel (BJP) said fund usage under the scheme is not being monitored and digitisation would help in this regard.
K Srihari (TRS) said five crore households have got employment under the MNREGA and the government should keep in mind the interest of poor household and not reduce the labour component in the scheme.
Dharamveer Gandhi (AAP) demanded a social audit of the working of MNREGA in Punjab saying funds were not reaching the needy in view of widespread corruption.
E T Mohammad Basheer (IUML) described the scheme as a revolutionary step to help poor and should be improved and not scrapped.
Hukum Singh (BJP) regretted that the scheme had not helped the poor and a team of the Lok Sabha members should be appointed to assess MNREGA.
Among others who participated in the discussion were C N Jaydeevan (CPI), Anupriya Patel (Apna Dal) and S Rajendran (AIADMK).
