Ravi S Singh
New Delhi, April 12
The avowedly and much-hyped demand-driven Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) does not seem to be holding commensurate attraction for people of Punjab, at least not so during the last three consecutive years.
Or, perhaps the people of the State are comparatively richer compared to their counterparts in other parts of the country and have better alternatives to sustain their livelihoods.
Many feel that not availing this Union government’s flagship job guarantee scheme full-on by people raises questions.
Either the scheme offers “false dilemma,” or seriously needs some addends to the categories and nature of works enshrined in it to make the job package attractive to people in the State of Punjab whose economy is largely vectored by strong agriculture, rural and allied activities.
Whatever be the rationale, the apparent lukewarm response of the targeted beneficiaries to this Centre-sponsored scheme gives a lie to the Opposition parties’ constant hackles against the Union government for being allegedly apathetic to the scheme’s implementation.
The opportunities of employment on offer via the scheme have not attracted the people of the State in 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020-21.
A data of the Union Rural Development Ministry says that in the financial year 2020-21, the households offered employments under the scheme was 10.81 lakh, but 9.54 lakh of them availed it.
In 2019-20, 9.19 lakh households were offered employment out of which only 7.53 lakh availed it.
In 2018-19, 8.34 lakh households were offered employment but eventually 6.75 lakh availed it.
On the other hand, the release of funds to the State for implementation of the scheme in these three years had been progressively on the uptick: more than Rs 598 crore in 2018-19; more than Rs 776 crore in 2029-20; and more than Rs 1,287 crore in 2020-21.
Rural employment scheme gets lukewarm response in Punjab
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