A confrontation between the Uttar Pradesh government and the Centre over the release of funds for MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) has cast its shadow on people’s survival in rural areas. The two sides at war over the fresh release of funds for the present fiscal of 2013-14 are UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and Union minister for Rural Development, Jairam Ramesh.
The stand-off has brought rural development works to a grinding halt. With the wrangle over funds and the resulting impasse in what is dubbed as world’s biggest employment scheme, 65,000 workers in the state’s 52,000 gram panchayats are on the verge of starvation owing to joblessness. The MGNREGS employed these 65,000 unemployed people on contractual basis.
This is not the first time the two governments are on the course of collision on MGNREGS funds utilisation. Union Rural Development Minister Jai Ram Ramesh had sent reminders to the Akhilesh government to order CBI inquiries in half a dozen districts where the district magistrates and other officials had allegedly gobbled crores of rupees of MGNREGS funds during the previous BSP regime. Despite repeated reminders from Jairam Ramesh on conducting a CBI enquiry and his meeting with Akhilesh Yadav a few months ago, the two failed to evoke a positive response from the Samajwadi Party government. “I have repeatedly pointed out that the central government is not releasing the funds to UP. I condemn it,” Akhilesh Yadav said.
The Union minister was already struggling to nail the guilty for the misuse of MGNREGS funds in states including UP, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand where large scale leakages of funds have been reported. “I am sorry to say UP is not performing well in the rural development schemes, one of them is certainly MGNREGS. It is shielding corrupt officials also”, said Ramesh. The confrontationist attitude of both sides has plumbed new depths in the ongoing feud. As it is known, some of the officers loyal to the Akhilesh regime would face the heat once the CBI begins the investigations. One of these officers is posted at the state secretariat. Hence, Ramesh’s pleas in this regard are always blunted by the state government.
Two months of the financial year 2013-14 have gone by and the funds have not been released to the panchayats in the state. Akhilesh Yadav has written a letter to the Union minister for Rural Development seeking release of funds. In two replies, Ramesh, explaining the factual situation clarified that since the UP government has not been able to utilise its funds of the previous financial year, funds would not be released. “The way MGNREGS has come to halt in the state exposes the hollow claims of the Samajwadi Party government,” said BJP’s Hridaya Narain Dixit.
Under the MGNREGS programme, the first condition of maintaining a flow of funds is to ensure the previous amount is spent and details are submitted to the central government. In UP’s case, in the previous financial year of 2012-13 `6790 crore was released by the central government, but only `2632 was spent. The remaining amount is pending with the state government. The state government is asking for the release of fresh funds of the current financial year, but the Centre demands utilisation of the pending funds.
The UP government has demanded the salary for the 65,000 officials on contract but the Centre has refused. It has, instead asked the state government to take the administrative expenditures from the previous funds. The performance of the Samajwadi Party government as compared to the BSP government in the utilisation of MGNREGS funds has been very poor. The scheme is foundering. While the UP government is doling out unemployment allowance to address the rampant joblessness, its indecision has created a swathe of unemployment in the rural areas.
In the last financial year of 2012-13, work was allotted to 65.000 persons. In 2011-12 (BSP regime), there were around three lakh job card holders, and in 2010-11 eight lakh job-holders got 100 days work. In 2012-13 (in the SP regime) `2657 crore were spent while in 2011-12 `5,622 crore; in 2010-11 `5631 and `5,900 crore in 2009-10. In UP, the participation of women in the MGNREGS is less than 20 per cent—the lowest.
By not utilising the funds, the ruling party of the state may be trying to pitch the rural population against the Congress-led UPA. With the next parliamentary elections drawing closer, the Samajwadi Party may try to defame the Congress. Both the Samajwadi Party and the BSP have publicly opposed UPA’s game changing scheme implemented in 2008 to win the elections. The political parties of the state could be trying to turn the table against the Congress this time.
Rural Development Minister Arvind Singh Gope blamed the UPA government for harassing the state government. He said, “The UPA government is deliberately withholding funds of the state to tarnish the image of the UP government. It’s unjustified.” Meanwhile Sanjay Dixit, member of the Central Council of the MGNREGS, who is leading a campaign against the Akhilesh Yadav government said that he would meet the Union Rural Development Minister to draw his attention to the chaotic conditions owing to the criminal attitude of the Samajwadi Party government in the state. The Samajwadi Party chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav had demanded abolition of the MGNREGS. Meanwhile, workers led by Sanjay Dixit staged protests against the exploitation of the rights of the workers under MGNREGS. Will the scheme be scrapped in the state? With the war between ministers heating up, the issues surrounding the revival of the scheme in Uttar Pradesh have unfortunately taken a back seat.