A provision of Rs. 1,01,500 crore has been made under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the current financial year 2020-2021. It is the highest ever provision of funds under the programme.
A sum of Rs. 31,493 crore has already been released in 2020-2021, which is more than 50% of the budget estimate of the current Financial Year.
A total of 60.80 crore person days has been generated so far and work has been offered to 6.69 crore persons. Average number of persons to whom work offered in May 2020 has been 2.51 crore per day, which is 73% higher than the work offered in May last year, which was 1.45 crore persons per day.
A total of 10 lakh works have been completed so far during the current Financial Year 2020-2021. A sustained focus is on taking up works related to water conservation and irrigation, plantation, horticulture and Individual Beneficiary works for livelihood promotion.
Meanwhile govt said There has been an encouragingly positive response from the States asthe government continues its efforts to help the poor and marginalized people find their feet in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the context of tribal people, TRIFED under the aegis of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs had advised the State Governments to plan the effective implementation of MSP for MFP by leveraging funds under Article 275 (I) grants to ensure both immediate income generation in the short term and sustained livelihoods by supporting VanDhan value addition activities.
It has been observed that this advice has been met with tremendous positive response. 17 states have initiated procurement and MFP worth approximately Rs. 50 Cr. have been procured by the states under the scheme. Moreover due to these efforts,private agencies in 7 States have procured MFP at prices above the MSP to tune of over Rs.400 Cr.
