New Delhi: In the current financial year 2021-22 as on July 23, 6.51 crore persons have been provided employment and more than 130.9 crore person-days have been generated under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). While, in 2020-21, 11.19 crore persons were provided employment and more than 389.23 crore person-days were generated. This information was given by Union Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Number of persons provided Employment under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA FY 2021-22?
Talking about this, so far in the financial year 2021-22 the number of persons provided employment (in lakhs) are - Andhra Pradesh 71.46, Arunachal 0.73, Assam 21.32, Bihar 31.33, Chhattisgarh 39.91, Goa 0.01, Gujarat 12.81, Haryana 3.29, Himachal Pradesh 4.72, Jammu and Kashmir 1.81, Jharkhand 19.33, Karnataka 41.51, Kerala 8.02, Ladakh 0.02, Madhya Pradesh 65.37, Maharashtra 17.65, Manipur 0.50, Meghalaya 2.01, Mizoram 2.06, Nagaland 2.98, Odisha 35.31, Punjab 6.96, Rajasthan 52.55, Sikkim 0.45, Tamil Nadu 54.99, Telangana 42.27, Tripura 6.03, Uttar Pradesh 45.78, Uttarakhand 3.34, West Bengal 57.08, Andaman & Nicobar 0.02, Lakshadweep 0.00 and Puducherry 0.16.
Read: MGNREGA gains ground this year amid pandemic
Now for the financial year 2020-21, a total amount of Rs. 1,11,170.86 crore was allocated and till date an amount of Rs. 41,187.06 crore has been released as on July 20 for the implementation of the programme. The Government of India has allocated Rs. 73,000 crore at Budget Estimate stage for current financial year 2021-22 for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) which is an increase of Rs. 11,500 crore as compared to Budget Estimate for the financial year 2020-21.
The objective of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is to strengthen the livelihood resource base of the rural households while creating productive assets. So far, more than 25 lakh assets have been created in the current 2021-22 fiscal. The Act also mandates expenditure of 60% for creation of assets directly related to agriculture and allied activities through development of land, water and trees. In the current FY 2021-22, so far, 73% of the expenditure is incurred on agriculture and allied works.
Read: Bulk of additional spending will go towards people-centric schemes: FM
Also, the MGNREGS is a demand driven wage employment programme, which provides for livelihood security by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members step forward to do unskilled manual work.
This scheme was initiated in 2006, and is hailed as the largest social welfare scheme in the world, and has helped provide employment to the people affected by Covid19, demonetization and GST. It is also worth mentioning that through this scheme first aid is provided to the workers and facilities like clean drinking water are also provided.
For a single day, workers are paid wages as follows - Uttar Pradesh Rs 201, West Bengal Rs 204, Bihar Rs 194, Haryana Rs 309, Gujarat Rs 224, Andhra Pradesh Rs 237, Assam Rs 213, Jharkhand Rs 194, Karnataka Rs 275, Madhya Pradesh Rs 190 , Punjab Rs 263, Rajasthan Rs 220, Kerala Rs 291 and Orissa Rs 207.
