Union Budget 2023: Rural Ministry, MGNREGS witness cut in allocations

The Rural Development Ministry has been allocated Rs 157545 crore in the Union Budget for 202324 around 13 per cent less than the estimated expenditure made by the ministry in the current fiscalThe allocation for the flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme MGNREGS too has been cut by almost onethirdAccording to Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday Rs 13594429 crore was allocated to the Rural Development Ministry initially for 202223 However according to the revised estimates which is a midyear review of possible expenditure it has gone higher to Rs 181121 crore The actual expenditure for the Ministry in 202122 was Rs 1604334 croreMGNREGS has been allocated Rs 60000 crore for 202324 almost 32 per cent lesser than revised estimates for last fiscalIn 202223 the government had allocated Rs 73000 crore for MGNREGS in the Budget while the expenditure as per the revised estimates was Rs 89400 crore The Economic Survey released on Tuesday stated that the number of persons demanding work under MGNREGS is back to the prepandemic levels from July to November 2022The survey attributed it to the normalisation of the rural economy and swift recovery from Covid induced slowdown In 202122 Rs 73000 crore was allocated to the Ministry while Rs 9846785 crore was actually spent on MGNREGS while in 202021 Rs 111169 crore was spent on the scheme as per previous budget documentsAlso read Ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh terms Union Budget disappointingThe scheme provides guaranteed 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to at least one member of every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work It also earmarks at least onethird of jobs for womenThe allocation for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna was same as the last budget at Rs 19000 crore while the allocation for National Livelihood Mission Ajeevika has increased marginally to Rs 1412917 crore compared to revised estimate of Rs 1333642 crore in the last budgetThe Budget for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna PMAY Rural was increased to Rs 54487 crore compared to Rs 48422 crore in the revised estimates for 202223 No allocation was made for Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission In 202223 Rs 550 crore was allocated to the scheme while the revised estimate was Rs 988 crore The Mission was launched by Ministry in 2016 to deliver integrated projectbased infrastructure in the rural areasThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever