Centre trying to kill MGNREGS, says Congress leader Jairam Ramesh
The Congress has accused the government of trying to throttle the flagship rural employment programme — Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) — after it was revealed that for the first time since its implementation, the government has capped its spending at 60% of its annual allocation for the first half of the financial year 2025-26.
Sharing a screenshot on social media platform X of a media report on the issue, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, 'How to kill MGNREGA in three easy steps — Step I: Starve MGNREGA of funds for a decade, resulting in stagnant wages and a massive rise in pending dues - amounting to ₹21,000 crores as of the beginning of this financial year Step II: Introduce the Finance Ministry's Monthly/Quarterly Expenditure Plan, restricting MGNREGA expenditure in the first six months of the financial year to 60% of the annual budget.'
Step three he said, would be to stop providing work due to budget shortfall after payment of pending dues. 'Step I and II are in motion. Step III is coming soon,' Mr. Ramesh added.
He said what needs to be done instead is that MGNREGS wages must be increased to ₹400 per day. He argued that the Aadhar Based Payment Bridge Systems (ABPS) must not be made mandatory. Wages must be paid within the statutory period of 15 days and any delay in payment must be compensated, Mr. Ramesh said.
According to sources, this is the first time the government has introduced such a limitation on MGNREGA which is essentially a demand driven programme, where irrespective of the budget, if a beneficiary demands for work, the government has to provide for it.
At the beginning of this Financial Year, the government brought the programme under — Monthly/Quarterly Expenditure Plan, which is a mechanism to regulate government expenditure. Majority of the programmes have a cap of 25% for each quarter. When the Ministry of Rural Development submitted its estimate for the first quarter, it was far beyond 25% of the total budget because of the pending liability.
After much back and forth, the Finance Ministry sanctioned that out of the total outlay of MGNREGS of ₹86,000 crores, up to 60% can be spent over the next two quarters. This means that only ₹51,600 crores will be available for the scheme until the end of September.
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