MGNREGA likely to get a hike of Rs 25,000 crore from government

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As more distressed labour from urban India continued to seek work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the government is likely to enhance the annual expenditure under the rural employment guarantee scheme by over Rs 25,000 crore as the outgo has exceeded 70% of the budgeted allocation in the first four and a half months of the fiscal year.

The data showed that the expenditure under the scheme stood at Rs 52, 572.29 crores on August 17. This was 72% of the Rs 73,000 crore allocated for the FY22 or 47.2% of the previous year’s overall expenditure of Rs 1.11 lakh crore. Also, person-days (the number of people working per day times the number of days worked) of work generated are at the halfway mark of last year and stand at 1.58 billion. This is 40.5% of the 3.89 billion person-days of work generated in FY 21.

The Economic Times reported that the government is currently assessing the demand and funds would be allocated accordingly.

Employment in the agriculture sector increased significantly

Last year, the government had enhanced the allocation to the scheme by Rs 40,000 crore after the nationwide lockdown in April and May, that forced millions of migrant workers to move back to their rural homes and seek work under the programme.

According to a recent report from the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), India’s total employment in the farming sector had risen to 39.4% in 2020-21, from 38% in 2019-20. This was due to the non-agricultural sector’s inability to provide employment, it noted.