The MG-NREGS dashboard showed 30.58 million rural youth demanding work under the scheme in February. In August FY22, a higher number of young people (31.74 million) demanded work.
Demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MG-NREGS) rose to a six-month high in February, indicating that economic activity in urban centers has not yet attracted enough to accommodate migrant workers from villages. to pull.
The demand-driven MG-NREGS provides a livelihood alternative to the rural youth when better employment opportunities are not available. Demand for work under the scheme is affected by several factors such as rainfall, availability of alternative and rewarding employment outside the scheme.
The MG-NREGS dashboard showed 30.58 million rural youth demanding work under the scheme in February. In August FY22, a higher number of young people (31.74 million) demanded work. During the September-October kharif harvest months, demand for work under the scheme was the lowest to date in the current fiscal year, at about 25.5 million per month.
Of course, the number of man-days for job creation under the scheme was the lowest in the past three months in February, showing that the government has become more frugal in allocating funds for the scheme, given the fiscal constraints.
It had increased budget expenditures for the scheme and released generous funds as the pandemic devastated the country, especially during the first wave.
The tightening of the budget has led to a decrease in the supply of work under the scheme. A rural household has so far received only 47.97 days of work under the scheme in the current fiscal year. This runs counter to the scheme’s mandate to provide any family in villages whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled handicrafts in any financial year with a minimum of 100 days of guaranteed wages. The average was higher at 51.52 days in the entire last fiscal year.
The number of households that worked during the current fiscal year is so far just below 70 million, compared to 75.5 million in the entire previous fiscal year. In FY20, 54.8 million households were employed, compared to 52.7 crore in FY19.
Against the total expenditure requirement estimated at Rs 1 trillion so far in the current fiscal year, the Center has released Rs 88,526 crore. As the revised estimate in the recent budget is Rs 98,000 crore, an additional amount may be required to maintain the current pace of job supply throughout the year.
Compared with an allocation of Rs 1.1 trillion for the scheme in the last fiscal year, the budget expenditure (BE) in the current fiscal year was Rs 73,000 crore. However, an additional Rs 25,000 crore was allocated for the scheme as additional spending demands were made in Parliament. In the 2022-23 budget, the allocation for the scheme has also been kept at Rs 73,000 crore.
This post MG-NREGS: February rural job demand at six-month high
was original published at “https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/mg-nregs-demand-for-work-under-rural-scheme-at-six-month-high-in-february/2463432/”
