There have been some news items published stating that December data for first 17 days is the lowest ever in terms of employment generated under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. It needs to be clarified that Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is a demand driven scheme & such comparison is not as per the spirit of the act.
It needs to be mentioned that during the Current financial year so far more than 261 crore person-days has been generated as per the demand by the beneficiaries. During the FY 2019-20 for the period April to November a total of more than 175 crore persondays got generated, in the same period of previous year more than 276 crore persondays got generated and in the current FY during the same period more than 255 crore persondays got generated.
The work done in a particular month is counted against the MR filled up during the month. The Scheme allows 7 days window for the entry of the data. Thus, full data of December is usually available about 10 days into the next month. Thus, a comparison based on the data for the first 17 days takes into account the persondays that have been generated during a minor fraction of the month of December. As per the provision of the Act, the data entry for the works which would get completed in the last week of the month of December 2021, will be reflected in the 2nd week of January, 2022.
It may also be mentioned that during November, 2019 a total of 16.92 crore persondays were generated, in the same month of last year over 23 crore persondays got generated and in the month of November, 2021 more than 22 crore persondays got generated.
Fund release towards wage and material is a continuous process. There has been increase of more than 18% of funds allocation for the current financial year in comparison to previous financial year as budget estimate. During the current FY so far more than Rs.74,388 crore funds have been released for the implementation of the scheme in the States/UTs.
Whenever, additional fund is required, Ministry of finance is requested to provide the funds. Recently, Ministry of Finance allocated additional funds of Rs.10,000 crore for Mahatma Gandhi NREGA as an interim measure. Further, allocation may be made upon assessment of demand during the RE stage.
Govt of India is committed to release funds for wage and material payments for proper implementation of the scheme, as per the provisions of the act and guidelines applicable for Central Government as well as State Governments.
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