Union Budget 2023: Rural Jobs Scheme Witness Cut In Allocations The allocation for the rural job scheme for the next financial year is reportedly 17.80% lesser than the budgetary estimates of INR 73,000 crore for 2022-23
By Teena Jose
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In the Union Budget 2023 presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Wednesday, the allocation for the flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has been cut by almost one-third, according to reports.
As per the Budget 2023, the overall allocation for the Rural Development Ministry for the coming year has been initially estimated at INR 135,944.29 crore in 2022-23. According to the revised estimates for the ministry in the current fiscal year has gone to INR 181121 crore. The actual expenditure for the ministry in 2021-22 was reportedly INR 160433.4 crore and the MGNREGS has been allocated INR 60,000 crore. It was estimated to be almost 32% less than revised estimates for last fiscal.
While presenting the Budget 2023, Nirmala Sitharaman said that, "Building on India's success in afforestation, mangrove initiative for shoreline habitats and tangible incomes (MISHTI) will be taken up for mangrove plantation along the coastline and on salt pan lands, wherever feasible, through convergence between MGNREGS, CAMPA Fund and other sources."
The allocation for the rural job scheme for the next financial year is reportedly 17.80% lesser than the budgetary estimates of INR 73,000 crore for 2022-23. The government proposed to slash the budgetary allocation for the MGNREGS even as the rural employment rate stood at 6.5% on January 31, 2023, added the report.
Last year when the Budget 2022 was presented, it was reported that the flagship rural employment programme had received a lower allocation by about INR 25,000 crore from RE 2021-22 of INR 98,000 crore.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is considered to be the world's largest social security programme in which it provides all the rural households in India with 100 days of guaranteed unskilled physical labour. The act aims at addressing the causes of chronic poverty through a rights-based framework.
