With allocation of ₹86,000 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the budget for the scheme for the financial year 2024-25 has been hiked by ₹26,000 crore in comparison to the 2023-24 Budget estimates, though it is the same as the revised estimates for the ongoing financial year (2023-24). So, the net gain for the rural employment scheme could be zero or even negative.
As per the statistics available on the Union Rural Development Ministry website, the total expenditure on the programme so far has been ₹88,309.72 crore. According to some estimates, as on February 1, the Centre owes ₹16,000 crore in wages to the State governments. The government has argued that MGNREGS is a dynamic scheme and the dues are cyclically paid. But for the last two years, the Centre has halted the programme in West Bengal, claiming corruption in implementation of the scheme. The Centre owes nearly ₹7,000 crore to the State.
