Budget 2022: Demand for work increased than pre-Covid stage however MGNREGS allocation not raised

Notwithstanding the observations made in Economic Survey 2021-22 that the demand for work underneath Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) continues to be increased than pre-pandemic stage, the federal government has not elevated the funds allocation for the scheme.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who offered Union Budget for the monetary yr 2022-23 on Tuesday, saved the budgetary allocation for the MGNREGS at Rs 73,000 crore for the monetary yr 2022-23, which is decrease than the revised estimates of Rs 98,000 crore for 2021-22 (by allocating Rs 25,000 within the Supplementary Demands for Grants) and the precise expenditure of Rs 1,11,170 crore in 2020-21.

Interestingly, the NREGS didn’t discover a point out in Sitharaman’s 90-minute funds speech. This is the second time in a row in her funds speech that Sitharaman didn’t point out something in regards to the NREGS that has emerged as a security internet for the poor and migrant employees in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last yr additionally, she didn’t point out the NREGS throughout her 110-minute speech, very similar to her first funds speech on July 5, 2019. However, in her February 1, 2020 funds speech she had talked about the NREGS as soon as.

The Economic Survey 2021-22 has mentioned that the demand for work underneath the NREGS continues to be increased than pre-pandemic stage.
“An analysis of the latest data on demand for work under MGNREGS suggests the following trends in the rural labour market: (i) MGNREGS employment peaked during the nation-wide lockdown in 2020 (ii) the demand for MGNREGS work has stabilized after the second COVID wave; (iii) aggregate MGNREGS employment is still higher than pre-pandemic level…,” mentioned the Economic Survey 2021-22, tabled in Lok Sabha on Monday.

“During the nationwide lockdown, the aggregate demand for MGNREGS work peaked in June 2020, and has thereafter stabilised. During the second-COVID-wave, demand for MGNREGS employment reached the maximum level of 4.59 crore persons in June 2021. Nonetheless, after accounting for seasonality, the demand at an aggregate level still seems to be above the pre-pandemic levels of 2019,” The survey mentioned.
The survey mentioned: “For some states like Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, the demand for work under MGNREGS has reduced to below the pre-pandemic levels during the last few months.”

“Intuitively, one may expect that higher MGNREGS demand may be directly related to the movement of migrant labour i.e. source states would be more impacted. Nevertheless, state-level analysis shows that for many migrant source states like West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, the MGNREGS employment in most months of 2021 has been lower than the corresponding levels in 2020,” the survey mentioned.
“In contrast, the demand for MGNREGS employment has been higher for migrant recipient states like Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for most months in 2021 over 2020. There are still other states that do not neatly fit into this categorization,” it mentioned.
“Therefore, the relationship between MGNREGS employment and movement of migrant labour during the last two years cannot be conclusively determined, and requires further research,” it added.
 

According to the most recent information obtainable on the NREGS portal, 6.73 crore households (9.72 crore people) have availed the agricultural job assure scheme until January 31 in the course of the present monetary yr.