New Delhi: In sharp terms during Zero Hour at Rajya Sabha, on the weakness of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, Congress Parliamentary Party stressed that the MGNREGA program had been under attack by the Central government by cutting on the budgets for the program systematically.
Sonia Gandhi pointed out that supposedly, the budget allocation for MGNREGA should have remained at Rs.86,000 crore; its latest budget allocated money at a deficit of Rs.4,000 crore so far. Further, she observed that around 20% of this year's budget will be spent on releasing pending wages for the past year, again adding much more weight to the scheme.
Sonia anchored in the historic accomplishments of the falling-apart MGNREGA, which was brought into being by the UPA government under Dr. Manmohan Singh. She emphasized that MGNREGA is a lead safety net for millions of rural Indians, providing unspoiled employment in times of need; she also elaborated on the challenges the program is presently facing, including the mandatory provisions of the Aadhaar-based payment system and the National Mobile Monitoring System, all of which, according to her, are creating unnecessary chaos in the very functioning of the program.
Soon the honorary Chairperson of Congress raised the issue of the late wage period and the measly wage rates that simply cannot even keep pace with inflation. She then asked the government to respond well in the future-more specifically to increase the minimum daily wage to Rs.400.
Sonia highlighted that Congress party was also making some core appeals to refurbish MGNREGA, including an increase in the budgetary allocation, uproot the provision of mandated Aadhaar-based payment system, a raise of guaranteed workdays beyond 100 to 150 per year and, thus and hence, improve the wages. It was, therefore, emphasized that all these steps should remain assured so that, in accord with Sonia, MGNREGA can offer some respectful employment and economic protection to every rural household in this nation.
[Source Credit: NDTV]
