Kolkata:

The Trinamool Congress will send more than 50 lakh letters from people denied MGNREGA benefits in West Bengal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the party’s much-touted protests in New Delhi next month against the alleged withholding of funds by the Centre.

The party has accused the BJP-led NDA government of withholding Rs 15,000 crore of dues to Bengal under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Gramin Awas Yojana.

The party will also send letters to Union Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh.

“West Bengal stands united against the central government’s injustice, determined to claim what’s rightfully ours. People’s power reigns supreme in democracy,” TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said on X, formerly Twitter.

People of Bengal are raising their voice against “injustice”, and those adversely impacted have written letters to the PM, seeking their rightful dues”, the party said on the microblogging site.

“We have people, who are yet to get their dues even after working under the MGNREGA, to write these letters. Till now, we have collected more than 50 lakh letters. They have all sought the release of dues to Bengal under the rural jobs scheme. We are sending these letters to the offices of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Giriraj Singh,” a senior TMC leader said.

Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s national general secretary, and TMC MPs, MLAs and leaders from the districts will pay their respects to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in the national capital on October 2 on his birth anniversary.

Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who was supposed to attend the programme in New Delhi, might not go there as she was advised ten days of rest by doctors after she suffered an injury on her left knee during a recent trip to Spain and Dubai.

A TMC delegation will meet Singh on October 3 and place before him the issue of “non-release of dues” under the MGNREGA, Bengal minister Chandrima Bhattacharya had said on September 23.

The TMC had planned to stage protests in New Delhi for dues under the rural jobs scheme to Bengal.

The ruling party in the state had claimed that despite several requests to the Delhi Police, it was denied permission to hold demonstrations in the national capital.

The TMC had, on August 30, said that it was denied permission to hold demonstrations in New Delhi as the BJP-led Union government wanted to “scuttle the voice of Bengal”, a charge dubbed as “baseless” by the saffron camp.

During the TMC’s Martyrs’ Day rally on July 21, Abhishek Banerjee had announced that the party would launch a massive protest in Delhi on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 against the alleged blocking of funds by the central government for Bengal under the MGNREGA and other schemes.

The chief minister held a two-day sit-in in March this year against the Centre’s alleged move of “not releasing funds” to the state for MGNREGA and other welfare schemes.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 aims to enhance the livelihood security of households in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Working under MGNREGS: Women workers begin desilting work as part of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) at Nidigattu village near Bheemunipatnam in Visakhapatnam district on April 23, 2020
| Photo Credit: DEEPAK KR

From being called a “living monument of failure” to “digging holes,” the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has long been subject to harsh criticism by the ruling dispensation. While the NDA government hasn’t done away with the UPA’s legacy scheme, payment delays, technological imposition and paucity of funds have left the programme in a state of disrepair.

For instance, the Centre is yet to clear wages worth thousands of crores in West Bengal and Rajasthan. The recently introduced Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) will impact close to 80% of workers in Maharashtra who are yet to complete the relevant formalities. Also, the Budget allocated to the scheme was slashed by 33% for FY24.

Despite the steep cut, Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh recently claimed that the allocations were higher than what was given during the UPA regime. Chart 1 shows that the allocation formed only 1.3% of the total budget in FY24, the lowest-ever. The share peaked at 3.4% in FY09.

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From February 1, 2023, payments to MGNREGS beneficiaries were to be made only through ABPS. However, as on February 20, only 44% of the total workers in India were eligible for ABPS. In 14 States, more than 50% of workers were not eligible. In Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra, where more than 2 crore workers each are enrolled under the scheme, over 60% were not eligible. Chart 2 shows the State-wise share of workers who were not eligible for receiving payments through ABPS as on February 20. States have been divided into four categories based on the number of workers enrolled in MGNREGS.

Rajendran Narayanan, a faculty member at Azim Premji University, said, “Till the workers link their job cards and bank accounts with Aadhaar, they will not be allowed to take up MGNREGA work. That can have serious consequences because it takes time to do this process and this is the peak season of MGNREGA. Also, rectifying errors in the Aadhaar-based payments is nearly impossible for the workers and field officials.”

MGNREGS also suffers from inordinate delays in payment of wages. The payment process has two stages. Stage 1, which is the States’ responsibility, involves creating a Funds Transfer Order with worker details. This is sent in digital format to the Centre. Stage 2, which is the Centre’s responsibility, involves processing the Funds Transfer Orders and transferring the wages to the worker’s account. Chart 3 shows the wages (in Rs. crore) that were not yet processed by the States and the wages that were yet to be cleared by the Centre as on February 25. For instance, in Rajasthan, nearly Rs. 78 crore or 1.5% of total transactions is yet to be processed at the State level, while the Centre is yet to clear dues worth Rs. 1,138 crore or 18% of all transactions. In West Bengal, close to 98% of transactions worth Rs. 2,897 crore are pending with the Centre.

Further, several States such as West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Nagaland are running negative balances with payments pending for wages and material. This makes it difficult for them to take up new work. At the same time, they have pending payments ranging from Rs. 200 crore to over Rs. 1,000 crore. In Gujarat, Telangana, Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, while the existing balance is positive, the pending payments far exceed the balance, which if cleared, will push the States into negative territory. Chart 4 shows balance remaining with States and payments that are due in Rs. crore.

Source: MIS reports, budget documents and the Ministry of Rural Development

nihalani.j@thehindu.co.in

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