The cause of the second wave of infection reached the rural areas.
The government reduced the budget by 35 percent from last year.
New Delhi . The second wave of Corona has also hit the employment of rural areas. The employment under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) has declined by 48 per cent within a year. While 50.83 crore people got work under the scheme in May, 2020, this number has come down to 26.38 crore in May, 2021.
JNU professor Himanshu says that the second wave of infections in rural areas led to a 26% drop in the demand for work under MGNREGA and also reduced the number of jobs. Apart from this, laborers who migrated in large numbers from cities last year again turned to cities, which also reduced the demand for work and employment in rural areas this year.
Impact on Employment: In West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, the employment numbers were impacted by the stalling of projects due to elections. According to MGNREGA Sangharsh Morcha activist Devmalya Nandi, the situation is worsening due to lack of funds and will.
The scheme got only 73 thousand crores –
The Center has given Rs 73 thousand crore to the MGNREGA scheme for 2021-22, which is 34.52% less than the amount allocated in the last financial year. The government gave 61,500 crores earlier in 2020-21, but after the pandemic, this amount was increased to Rs 1,01,500 crores. An additional amount of 40 thousand crores was put in the scheme to provide work to the laborers who returned from the cities to the rural areas.
This time the government is not serious-
The pandemic risk was there last year as well and is this year too. However, this time the government is not looking as serious as 2020. Even the opposition is not raising a strong voice.
– Pranab Sen, statistician
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