Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Mar 4: Squeezed flow of funds to Jammu and Kashmir under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has led to liabilities worth more than Rs 200 crores on account of initiated works and also denial of minimum wage employment to lakhs of rural households across the State.
The situation has forced the migration of labourers from rural areas to towns and cities in search of wage employment thus defeating the very purpose of MGNREGA, which was incorporated by the Government of India a few years back.
According to the official sources, against the proposed 288.1 lakh Persondays for the year 2014-15, only 58.76 lakh Persondays have been generated till date while only 28 days are left in completion of this financial year. The total Persondays generated so far is only 20.39 percent of desired target for the year.
The intensity of shortfall can be gauged from the fact that the Persondays generated during financial year 2013-14 and 2012-13 were 338.13 lakh and 365.56 lakh, respectively. Similarly, total number of Households, which completed 100 days of Wage Employment this year, is only 2,854 so far whereas in the year 2013-14 and 2012-13, the number of Households with 100 days of Wage Employment was 66,764 and 69,381 respectively, sources explained.
Pertinent to mention that MGNREGA is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘right to work’. It aims to ensure livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid. If work is not provided within 15 days of applying, applicants are entitled to an unemployment allowance. Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
While elaborating, sources said that MGNREGA plan of Rs 730 crores was prepared for the year 2014-15 with proposed labour budget of 288 lakh Persondays. Total 1.69 lakh new and spill over works were taken up during the current year but only 2,829 have been completed so far.
Even as floods in last September and Assembly elections also contributed to some extent in less work this year, main reason behind the same was squeezed flow of funds from the Government of India, sources informed.
Against the proposed budget and the works initiated this year, the Government of India released only 400 crores of rupees for clearance of expenditures with the result that the State has created liabilities of around Rs 223 crores under MGNREGA till date, sources informed.
Because of reduced funds, financial progress achieved during the current financial year till date is only Rs 291.39 crores whereas in the year 2013-14 and 2012-13, the achieved financial progress was Rs 770.23 crores and Rs 853.34 crores respectively. In 255 Gram Panchayats, not even a single penny was spent during the current financial year.
Even as the authorities are hopeful of clearing liabilities in the next financial year, lakhs of rural households who have been denied minimum wage employment in 2014-15, will not get compensated.
In Jammu and Kashmir, which has 22 districts with 313 Blocks and 4139 Gram Panchayats, there are 20.99 lakh workers and 12.78 lakh have been issued Job Cards.
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