MGNREGA conundrum

On 13 October, 28 leading development economists wrote a letter urging the Modi government to avoid diluting the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or MGNREGA (often referred to as a scheme). Judging by the proposed changes to MGNREGA mentioned in the letter, one would be compelled to wonder about the intentions behind the government’s move. Does this government even believe in a scheme like MGNREGA? Because if it doesn’t then it should stop being a hypocrite and summarily repeal the Act. If it persists with the scheme for any number of years with the intention of merely running it aground, then it must be made clear that such a move comes at the cost of thousands of crores of taxpayers’ money spent just because the Narendra Modi government lacked the political chops to do it in one go.

None of this is to say that repealing or even diluting the scheme would be beneficial for the people. In fact, if the Modi government believes in MGNREGA, then the way to improve its efficiency and reduce corruption lies in raising awareness about its provisions among the people, making grievance redressal a real deal and providing timely disbursals when jobs are demanded. Ironically, the call to give up on a scheme like MGNREGA comes at a time when not just global opinion but also hard data is at hand to prove that MGNREGA has helped the poor of India.

On the same day that the government was urged to refrain from subverting MGNREGA, came the Global Hunger Index report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which highlighted MGNREGA as one of the key reasons why India’s proportion of underweight children (below the age of five) has come down from 43.7% in 2005 to 30% in 2014. The time frame is of significance as it matches with the period during which not just MGNREGA but several other social safety nets were provided for the poor. Less than a week before the IFPRI’s Global Hunger Index came a joint document by World Bank and International Monetary Fund called the Global Monitoring Report. This report detailed how the world failed to achieve 15 of the 21 Millennium Development Goals, decided in 2000, to be achieved till 2015. It also laid out the agenda for the next 15 years. One of the three key goals it stressed on was the provisioning of social safety nets.

We want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to succeed in his national campaign to tackle the vast problems of the poor in Bharat. But his one-time contractor turned Union minister for rural development is succeeding in making his own prime minister look contradictory and indecisive to the nation and the world.

When the Rs 34,000 crore (non-subsidy) MGNREGA budget for 2014-2015 is compared to the Rs 60,000 crore subsidy for fertilisers, the Rs 97,000 crore subsidy for petroleum and the additional Rs 60,000 crore subsidy allocated to state governments, it is peanuts. It is only 0.07 per cent of the GDP. It is equivalent to the cost of developing one video game (Destiny). The amount that the government is cribbing about spending on 300 million households all over the country is only 1 per cent of the amount spent on cat and dog food in America.

Sadly but systematically, this government is taking jobs away from the rural poor. It is now proposed that the original 60:40 labour to material ratio be changed to 51:49, which would benefit village contractors at the expense of real rural wages and livelihoods. If this is not a colossal anti-poor move, how else can it be explained? There is no justification. Only consider the impact.

One out of every three households (40 per cent of SC/ ST families) — in other words, 10 crore or 100 million people — has directly benefited in Bharat. That too when, on an average, a family has worked for only 45 days out of the 100 days of employment they should have got by right. If this government is to show to the nation and the world it is serious about providing jobs in rural areas, it should leave the MGNREGA alone.

There is an absurd idea being circulated by arm-chair economists that the subsidy should be stopped because the rural poor don’t work. They are lazy. They are getting a dole for just sitting at home. These people, who have never done a stroke of manual labour in their lives, have no idea what it is like to work for eight hours in the sun and go hungry because they can’t get even one square meal a day. The MGNREGA has given 100 million people who once had no hope or future a life and enabled them to work with dignity. What more could any government want?

madrasi_idiot wrote:i like modi. his mission is not just to undo what the precceding government did. he has just given aadhaar a big push. 

madrasi_idiot wrote:i like modi. his mission is not just to undo what the precceding government did. he has just given aadhaar a big push. 

btw, which category/categories are you in? another question -- are you male or female? 

confuzzled dude wrote:

madrasi_idiot wrote:i like modi. his mission is not just to undo what the precceding government did. he has just given aadhaar a big push. 

btw, which category/categories are you in? another question -- are you male or female? 

Idiot, What mission are you talking about? Modi missed an opportunity to rid of sops during WTO meeting earlier, he has a chance to do that with petrol subsidies and with coal, thus far he had not shown any inclination to do that. He has been merely extending previous govt.'s polices with minimal tweaks that's not who you call a reformer. You can keep hurling epithets at me if that keeps your mental balance without taking your daily dose of medicine.

madrasi_idiot wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

madrasi_idiot wrote:i like modi. his mission is not just to undo what the precceding government did. he has just given aadhaar a big push. 

btw, which category/categories are you in? another question -- are you male or female? 

Idiot, What mission are you talking about? Modi missed an opportunity to rid of sops during WTO meeting earlier, he has a chance to do that with petrol subsidies and with coal, thus far he had not shown any inclination to do that. He has been merely extending previous govt.'s polices with minimal tweaks that's not who you call a reformer. You can keep hurling epithets at me if that keeps your mental balance without taking your daily dose of medicine.

you are highlighting modi's failures here ever day. you claim WTO was a failure -- time will tell. now your apple cart has been upset because modi tweaked the mnrega ratio. damn the poverty statistics for they are not always credible. do you know how many activists were mysteriously killed during congress rule because they had sought information under the rti act re: mnrega. you can google if you like but ANSWER ME! 

i sincerely apologize for all the epithets i have hurled at you. but tell me, are a commie, immature idiot?

confuzzled dude wrote:

madrasi_idiot wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

madrasi_idiot wrote:i like modi. his mission is not just to undo what the precceding government did. he has just given aadhaar a big push. 

btw, which category/categories are you in? another question -- are you male or female? 

Idiot, What mission are you talking about? Modi missed an opportunity to rid of sops during WTO meeting earlier, he has a chance to do that with petrol subsidies and with coal, thus far he had not shown any inclination to do that. He has been merely extending previous govt.'s polices with minimal tweaks that's not who you call a reformer. You can keep hurling epithets at me if that keeps your mental balance without taking your daily dose of medicine.

you are highlighting modi's failures here ever day. you claim WTO was a failure -- time will tell. now your apple cart has been upset because modi tweaked the mnrega ratio. damn the poverty statistics for they are not always credible. do you know how many activists were mysteriously killed during congress rule because they had sought information under the rti act re: mnrega. you can google if you like but ANSWER ME! 

i sincerely apologize for all the epithets i have hurled at you. but tell me, are a commie, immature idiot?

I didn't say it is a failure rather it showed lack of his gumption, my point is he is not what he claims to be i.e. Modiji da reformer. Like you said time will tell... Hope you have dignity to take the daily dose of criticism from an immature idiot like me without resorting to personal attacks; Where were you when MMS was beaten black and blue on a daily basis, did you see me attack any of the posters personally for their political views?

The maximum 636.78 crore person days of work was generated under MNREGA, followed by 98.97 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana and 78.01 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, he said.