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The Hindu
6 hours ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme labour budget cut to 12 crore person-days in Tamil Nadu
Around 88 lakh beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Tamil Nadu have to be accommodated, as of now, within the reduced labour budget of 12 crore person-days during 2025-26. The State government had originally proposed 35 crore person-days, adopting a 'bottom-up' approach from village panchayats. Centre's nod However, the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj is optimistic of the Union government's approval for an increase in the labour budget for the State in the course of the current year. The reason is not far to seek. During 2024-25 too, Tamil Nadu was allotted only 20 crore person-days. Eventually, the Centre gave approval for around 10 crore more person-days, taking the total number of person-days generated to 30.61 crore. Target and performance of select districts District Person-days allocated during 2025-26 (in lakh) Person-days generated as on June 6, 2025 (in lakh) Person-days generated during 2024-25 (in lakh) Tiruvannamalai 110 12.26 229.66 Villupuram 81 3.85 178.63 Cuddalore 75 7.65 155.82 Tiruvallur 64 5.5 128.94 Pudukkottai 60 4.99 126.01 Madurai 54 1.41 118.69 Virudhunagar 49 2.95 99.88 Dindigul 46 1.84 97.22 Krishnagiri 44 2.65 100.47 Sivagangai 42 1.72 84.74 An official of the department says that after achieving 9.6 crore (80%) person-days, a proposal will be sent to the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) for an increase in the labour budget. Delay in wages Early this year, the delay in the payments of wages made the headlines, prompting Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to take exception. As the MGNREGS is a Central government scheme, the Union government bears the entire wage for unskilled labour. Out of a total unskilled wage expenditure of ₹8,375 crore during 2024-25, the beneficiaries have been paid ₹8,347 crore. A sum of ₹28 crore is yet to be released by the MoRD. As for the current year, ₹122 crore has been paid to the beneficiaries in wages and ₹170 crore is yet to be credited into their accounts, and it will be done shortly, the official points out, adding that the actual sanction has been taken for ₹944.56 crore. On Wednesday, the Tamil Nadu government notified the revised schedule of wage, which has been increased from ₹319 to ₹336. The workload has been increased proportionately, according to an order issued by the State Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj.
Indian Express
5 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Rural ministry seeks 12% hike in outlay of Rs 5.23 lakh crore for MGNREGS over 5 years
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has sought an outlay of Rs 5.23 lakh crore for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for five years until 2029-30 in its May 15 proposal to the Expenditure Finance Committee, The Indian Express has learnt. EFC is a panel under the Finance Ministry that appraises all government schemes and projects. The outlay for five years till 2029-30 is about 12 per cent higher than the Central release of Rs 4.68 lakh crore for MGNREGS during the previous five financial years, 2020-21 to 2024-25. The release had peaked at Rs 1,09,810 crore in 2020-21, the first full year after Covid outbreak. During this year, there was a spike in demand for work when a record 7.55 crore rural families availed the scheme, which became a safety net for migrants who returned to their villages after a national lockdown was imposed. The Central release progressively declined to Rs 85,680 crore in 2024-25, the lowest in the last five years. The number of families working under the scheme gradually dropped over the years — 7.25 crore in 2021-22; 6.18 crore in 2022-23; 5.99 crore in 2023-24; and 5.79 crore in 2024-25. In 2024-25, the total Central release was Rs 85,680 crore. The last three financial years (2022-23 to 2024-25) do not include MGNREGS beneficiaries' figures for West Bengal, where the scheme has been suspended since March 2022. Sources in the government said the EFC appraisal and approval is part of the Centre's exercise to evaluate and approve its schemes for the next Finance Commission cycle. The MGNREGS is backed by law and therefore the EFC approval is just a formality. The outlay proposed by the MoRD is just 'estimated' and is 'subject to change' as the MGNREGS is a demand-driven scheme, they said. The scheme is notified by different states and UTs under Section 4 of the MGNREG Act 2005, which says that 'every State Government shall, within six months from the date of commencement of this Act, by notification, make a Scheme, for providing not less than one hundred days of guaranteed employment in a financial year to every household in the rural areas covered under the Scheme and whose adult members, by application, volunteer to do unskilled manual work subject to the conditions laid down by or under this Act and in the Scheme…' Section 22 of the Act provides for funding patterns of the scheme. According to the Act, the Central government is responsible for paying 100 per cent cost of three components — wages, administrative expenses and Social Audit Units (SAUs) — and up to three-fourths of the material cost of the scheme, including payment of wages to skilled and semi-skilled workers, subject to provisions of Schedule II of the Act. The state governments are responsible for meeting the costs of the following: (a) cost of unemployment allowance payable under the scheme; (b) one-fourth of the material cost of the scheme, including payment of wages to skilled and semi-skilled workers, subject to provisions of Schedule II; (c) administrative expenses of the State Council. 'No change is proposed in the current funding pattern across all components,' a source told The Indian Express. The MGNREGS was launched in 200 most backward rural districts of the country in 2006-07 and was extended to an additional 130 districts during 2007-08; and to the entire country from financial year 2008-09. The MoRD has circulated the EFC note at a time when the government has set in motion the process of prioritising its schemes for the 16th finance cycle starting April 1 next year. The Ministry of Finance has told all ministries and departments that no Centrally Sponsored Scheme or Central Sector Scheme will be considered for continuation beyond March 31, 2026, unless a third-party evaluation of the scheme is carried out. According to the Finance Ministry, there are 54 Centrally Sponsored Schemes and 260 Central Sector Schemes, which have their terminal date of approval until March 31, 2026 and are likely to be submitted for re-appraisal. Harikishan Sharma, Senior Assistant Editor at The Indian Express' National Bureau, specializes in reporting on governance, policy, and data. He covers the Prime Minister's Office and pivotal central ministries, such as the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Ministry of Cooperation, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Rural Development, and Ministry of Jal Shakti. His work primarily revolves around reporting and policy analysis. In addition to this, he authors a weekly column titled "STATE-ISTICALLY SPEAKING," which is prominently featured on The Indian Express website. In this column, he immerses readers in narratives deeply rooted in socio-economic, political, and electoral data, providing insightful perspectives on these critical aspects of governance and society. ... Read More
Indian Express
19-05-2025
- Indian Express
Delhi: Fake govt recruitment racket busted, 2 arrested
With the arrest of two persons, Delhi Police on Monday claimed to have busted a fake government recruitment racket, in which the accused allegedly duped people by encouraging them to register on fraudulent websites that carried photographs of ministers and senior government officials. The main accused, Rashid Choudhury, allegedly ran a cyber scam by using the name 'National Rural Development and Recreation Mission (NRDRM)' to falsely present it as a government body under the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), police said. Both Choudhury and his accomplice, Ikbal Hussain (27,) were arrested on Sunday. The matter came to light when the MoRD filed a police complaint in March alleging that two sites under the name NRDRM were carrying fraudulent recruitment advertisements and falsely projecting itself as being a part of the ministry. The site would demand payment from the victims on the pretext of registering them for the recruitment process, said police. 'The scam involved collecting registration fees ranging from Rs 299 to Rs 399 from applicants,' DCP (New Delhi) Devesh Mahla told mediapersons. An FIR was registered, and a QR code linked to fake websites led the police to a bank account in Assam. According to the police, after the money would land in this account, it would be siphoned off to multiple accounts or withdrawn through ATMs. 'Thereafter, more than a hundred CCTV camera footage of cash withdrawals from ATMs were obtained from various banks and analysed. From the analysis of the footage and with the help of technical surveillance, suspect Ikbal Hussain was traced to Laxmi Nagar, where he stayed at a rented flat in Shakarpur,' Mahla said. A raid led to the arrest of Hussain, who told the police that he withdrew cash and handed it over to the scam's mastermind, Rashid Choudhary. A subsequent raid at Choudhary's house in Laxmi Nagar led to his arrest. 'During questioning, he was initially non-cooperative but later revealed that he was operating a well-structured racket dealing in fake online advertisements for government recruitment,' said the DCP, adding that Choudhury is a habitual cybercriminal. The police said that Choudhary recruited a team of specialists, including web developers, for creating fake sites and had hired operatives for managing advertisements, and others for procuring bank accounts and SIM cards. The cellphones, SIM cards and bank accounts used by the scammers have been forwarded to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), to be verified with similar complaints and ongoing cases registered across the country, they added. Hussain and Choudhary were booked under sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
