November 27, 2014
Sukhendu Sekhar Ray speaks on MNREGS | Transcript
Sir, according to the United Nations Human Development Report 2014, 1/3 of the poorest of the poor people of the World live in India and their number is 40 crore, which is in fact 1/3 of our total population. And according to us, this scheme MNREGA was a relief for the poorest of the poor section of our country who are being deprived for centuries together. Now the way the Government has taken some stringent measures to slash the allocation under MNREGA in different States is a matter of serious concern.
The Hon’ble Minister in his reply has stated that the MNREGA was initially implemented in 200 most backward districts and subsequently 130 districts included. True. My question to the Hon’ble Minister is whether the Government has any plan to put the cloth back and to reduce the number of districts from 330 to 200 only as reported in a section of page.
Sir, number two, this Government, the Hon’ble Minister has claimed that during the last 8 years around Rs 180000 crore has been paid as wages to the workers. What is the figure during the past six months that the new Government has taken over how much money has been paid towards wages to the workers under MNREGA?
Thirdly, the Hon’ble Minister in his reply has stated that in 2013-2014 the total allocation was Rs 33,000 crores and this year it is Rs3 4,000 crores. So Rs 1000 crore has been increased in this year’s Budget. So, if we divide Rs 1000 crore among 29 states and 7 Union Territories, then it comes to Rs 27-28 crore for each State. What is the end result? Instead of raising the quantum of the allocation, this Government has slashed the allocation in a manner that in my State, in West Bengal the allocation which was Rs 2,214 crores in the last Financial year that is 2013-2014 it has come down to 1072 crore.
My Chief Minister, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal Smt Mamata Banerjee was the first among the Chief Ministers of the country to write a letter to the Government protesting against the reduced allocation of the fund.
Sir, in 2012-2013, West Bengal achieved total man days of 20 crore which is 109% higher than the national average. And in 2013-2014 the State again exceeded the targets even though the allocation has been slashed. This Government has put an economic blockade to West Bengal particularly to the poorest of the poor. It is not only unique in West Bengal and it is equally true in cases of Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar, Odisha and many other states. I would like to point out that according to the daily updated information system maintained by the Ministry of Rural Development, over 10.6 crore household had applied for work till November 25, this year over 10.3 crore household had applied and work has been provided to only 8.3 crore leaving 2.8 crore household without work. In the previous year during the same period work was provided to 9.8 crore household out of 10.9 crore household. This is the difference that the new government has taken, ‘achhe din a gaye hai’?
I am referring to one particular district of Gujarat. From there our Hon’ble Prime Minister hails. In the tribal dominated district of Aravali in Gujarat, the job guarantee scheme never really got off. Wahaan kaam shuru hi nehi huwa, mere sarkar se prathena yeh hai aap MNREGA ko bandh karna chahate hai, MNREGA ka paisa kaha dena chahate hai? Woh crony capitalist ko lootne ke liye, hamare mazdoor , hamare gaon ki kisan, hamare gaon ki aam janta, unko paisa nehi milega, paisa milega woh crony capitalist ko.
Sir, the issued raised by Mr Jairam Ramesh – the change in the labour to material ratio – is very important. Government is proposing for a reduction of material to labour ratio from 60 -40 to 51-49. This change will dilute the employment objective of the scheme without increasing the productivity. The entire productivity will come to a grinding halt.
I appeal to the government to reconsider and review its stand and try to enhance more allocation under MNREGA. Thank You Sir.
