NEW DELHI: As the VB-G RAM G scheme is yet to be implemented, the Centre has allocated Rs 95,692.31 crore for it, while an allocation of `30,000 crore has been made for the MGNREGA, though Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman did not mention a single word on the scheme in her 90-minute speech.
The VB-G RAM G, which promises 125 days of work in a year, will replace the two-decade-old MGNREGA, 2005.
Speaking to reporters, revenue secretary Arvind Shrivastava said, “For the new scheme, the budget provision has been provided exactly as what you would have seen when the bill was being presented and the Act was there.
Now on the old scheme, also having some money, in fact, it’s a legacy of the administration way in which the NREGA was implemented by the state. So there is some carryover of liabilities, 30,000 crores for that. We have taken the responsibility of verifying and fulfilling it. Otherwise, fresh implementation will be on the new proposals”.
Criticising the Budget, NREGA Sangharsh Morcha said the documents gave no indication where and when VB-GRAMS is to be notified, what the state-wise “normative allocations” are likely to be, or how the transition is to take place. “This uncertainty and confusion are putting state governments in a difficult position. Frontline functionaries are even more confused, not to speak of rural workers. The Centre must end this opacity and reveal its plans for VB-GRAMG immediately”.