BENGALURU: The Karnataka government will roll out the revamped version of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), now rechristened Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), from July 1, even as it places a significantly higher financial burden on the state.
Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Eshwar B Khandre announced that the scheme will be implemented from the scheduled date with a focus on protecting the interests of rural families, women, and vulnerable sections,despite the increased cost to the state exchequer.
Under the previous UPA-era arrangement, the Centre bore 90% of the wage cost while states contributed only 10%. However, the new guidelines mandate a 60:40 sharing ratio, “unfairly” increasing the burden on states, he said. “This is a major additional load on the state,” Khandre said, adding that between 2006 and 2026, the Centre contributed Rs 56,492 crore under MGNREGA in Karnataka, while the state had spent only Rs 4,821 crore and generated around 18.2 crore person-days of employment. Under the new arrangement, the state will now have to bear Rs 3,806 crore in a single year.
The minister criticised the Centre for introducing the new law without adequately consulting the states. “In a federal system, states should have been taken into confidence. We are opposing this and the matter is also being challenged in the Supreme Court,” he added.
Khandre said the Centre has allocated Rs 5,709 crore to Karnataka under the new scheme, requiring the state to contribute Rs 3,806 crore. He noted that Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has already given his approval for the state’s share following a request from the department.
Khandre also opposed the Centre’s directive not to provide employment for 60 days during the agricultural season, calling it “anti-farmer” and “unscientific”.
“With modern farm machinery now in use, rural families get very little agricultural work even during the farming season. This move is like snatching away food from the poor,” he said.
Khandre added that the state will raise all these concerns at a meeting of Rural Development Ministers from across the country scheduled in Delhi on June 28. He said the key demands are to continue the 90:10 cost-sharing ratio or at least maintain a minimum 80:20 ratio, provide employment on a demand basis and increase the minimum wage at the Central level to match the state’s revised wage of Rs 375 per day.
The minister said the state is prepared to provide employment to anyone who demands it under the new scheme from July 1.
Karnataka has set an ambitious annual target of 9 crore person-days, with a monthly target of 80-90 lakh person-days.
In the last three months, the state has already generated 1.40 lakh person-days. Khandre also assured that the government would take steps to safeguard the livelihood of over 7,000 contractual staff currently working under MGNREGA.