Tuesday, 02 May 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Expressing grave concern on reduced budget for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), the leader of opposition (LoP) in Uttarakhand Yashpal Arya has said that employment for only 30 days in the current financial year would be provided by the allotted budget. Under the MNREGS, a guarantee of 100 days of employment is provided to the unemployed in rural areas. He said that the rural development department had demanded a budget of Rs 98,000 crore for MNREGS for the FY 2023-24 but in the budget a provision of only Rs 60,000 was made. Arya said that the reduction of Rs 30,000 crore in the budget of the important scheme is inexplicable.
He said that the MNREGS is vital for lakhs of families in the country and 5.6 crore families benefit from it. It is an important tool to provide impetus to the rural economy. Arya said that reduction in the budget of the scheme which is an important support system for the landless labourers, small and marginal farmers is not a good sign.
Questioning the compulsion of attendance by the NMMS App in the MNREGS, Arya said that the compulsion is impractical. The labourers getting employment under the scheme are now required to upload their pictures two times in a day for marking attendance. Arya claimed that hundreds of the labourers could not get their attendance marked under the new system due to which they are deprived of their wages. The attendance by App would increase desperation in the labourers, he opined.
