India Forms Panel to Revamp Only Govt Job Guarantee Scheme

India Forms Panel to Revamp Only Govt Job Guarantee Scheme: India’s federal rural development ministry has formed a panel to revamp its only job guarantee scheme in the hope of directing more work to the country’s poorer regions, a senior government official said on Friday.

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The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, or MNREGA, was in high demand in the Asian nation’s rural areas as they emerged from the pandemic amid soaring inflation and limited non-farm job opportunities. Residents of relatively affluent states, however, may have fared better in securing work under the key anti-poverty job program, triggering calls for changes to the scheme.

What Has Been Said:

“The panel will recommend institutional mechanisms, including governance and administrative structures, for more effective utilization of funds, especially to address poverty,” the official said. The panel, which is expected to submit its report by January, will examine expenditure trends across various states and identify reasons for variations, the official added. According to official data, states such as Bihar and Odisha spend less on the employment scheme than states such as Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, which have a higher per-capita income.

About The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(MGNREGA):

The MNREGA jobs programme, introduced more than 15 years ago, allows citizens to enrol for work such as building roads, digging wells or creating other rural infrastructure, and receive a minimum wage for 100 days each year.

The government’s expenditure on job guarantees is one of the largest social sector budget items. For fiscal 2022-23, New Delhi has allocated 730 billion Indian rupees ($8.94 billion) to the jobs scheme, a decrease from the previous year’s record grant of 1.1 trillion rupees. However, the allocation could be increased in the final quarter of this fiscal. The government may raise rural spending to 2 trillion rupees next fiscal year.

It’s Effect:

The revaluation of the scheme comes as rural unemployment in India has remained above 7% for most of the current fiscal year, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

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