MGNREGA ‘Under Attack’? Rural Workers Demand Increased Budgetary Allocations Ronak Chhabra | 02 Aug 2022 At the call of NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, rural workers from over 15 states started a three-day protest at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday. The morcha said in a press statement: "NREGA is under attack by the government. Consistently decreasing budgetary allocations, wage payments delayed for months, negligible compensation paid for delays, and woefully low wages plague NREGA. These issues are widespread across the country,”
Shankar Singh of Rajasthan-based Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) told Newsclick on Monday that the delay in payment of wages was the biggest issue being faced by rural workers associated with MGNREGA across the country. “It only gets worse in the second half of each year as “inadequate” funds for the scheme runs dry,”
the Peoples’ Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG), a coming together of researchers and activists, in its MGNREGA scheme tracker for July this year highlighted that the Central government had already exhausted two-thirds of its scheme’s budget. “With eight months remaining, the pending dues are expected to increase,”
On Tuesday, rural workers from various states also highlighted the distress that is being caused to them, owing to the recently introduced National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) app – it was launched in May 2021 to ensure monitoring of the scheme and taking real-time attendance of workers at worksite.
“But it has only caused us trouble and nothing else,” rued Pramila Devi, a 40-year-old rural worker, hailing from Bihar’s Vaishali district. “Many a times, it doesn’t record our attendance because of poor network due to which the workers lose their wages. There is no attendance app for the officers and ministers, then why it is for the workers?”
The advent of ‘app-solute’ chaos in NREGA by Chakradhar Buddha & Laavanya Tamang June 25, 2022 https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-advent-of-app-solute-chaos-in-nrega/article65561536.ece
Demand of record 30 million jobs for MGNREGS reflects rural distress Himanshu Nitnaware 07 July 202 https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/governance/demand-of-record-30-million-jobs-for-mgnregs-reflects-rural-distress-83603 Men outnumbered women for the 1st time in job demand
The scheme has not recorded such demand since its inception in 2006. A section of economy watchers related such demand to India’s ongoing rural distress, inflation and unemployment.
This year’s level was 43 per cent more than the pre-pandemic (2015-2019) levels month of May.