The Union rural development ministry said funds allocated for the MGNREGS this financial year are over 18% in comparison to the previous year
The Union rural development ministry on Tuesday rejected news reports that cited data for the first 17 days of December and said the lowest ever employment has been generated in the month so far under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
“The work done in a particular month is counted against the MR filled up during the month. The scheme allows seven 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 person-days that have been generated during a minor fraction of the month of December,” the ministry said in a statement.
It added during the current financial year, over 261 crore person-days has been generated under MGNREGS as per the demand by the beneficiaries.
The ministry said funds allocated for the scheme this financial year are over 18% in comparison to the previous year. During the current financial year so far, over ₹74,388 crore have been released for the implementation of the scheme.
“Govt of India is committed to releasing 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.” (MANISH)