Govt reducing MGNREGA budget to suppress poor: Kharge

Addressing a press conference, the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said, the central government is reducing the budget of the MGNREGA scheme to suppress the poor.

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge slammed the Central government, on Thursday, alleging that it was cutting down the budget for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme with an aim to "suppress" the poor.

While addressing a press conference, Kharge said, "MGNREGA was started by Sonia Gandhi to give a status of "right to work". When the law was enforced across the nation, a lot of work has been done. Along with this, the poor have been empowered. But this government is making cuts in MGNREGA budget,"

"Rs 38,000 crore has been reduced from the MGNREGA budget. The budget has been reduced when people are returning back to work after the pandemic. I had raised this issue in the Parliament earlier when the PM had said that government will not shut down the MGNREGA, saying 'this is a living example of your (Congress) failures'. But now the same policy has helped the people during COVID 19 pandemic. Now, they are trying to end this scheme," he further added.

The Congress MP claimed that Rs 1,11,000 crore was being allocated by the Government for MGNREGA but out of that Rs, 73,000 crores has been put in the budget for this scheme, while Rs 63,000 crore has already been used.

"21 states don't have funds now. Also, excise duty has been imposed on petrol and diesel. This is a way to suppress the poor people which mainly consists of people from SC/ST communities," he said.

However, the Union Ministry of Rural Development claimed in Lok Sabha that there were “enough funds” to support the MGNREGA scheme. The claim came as a response to a question on state governments running out of funds for the scheme.