NEW DELHI: Many BJP-ruled states, including PM Narendra Modi’s home State Gujarat, are at the bottom of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) performance list, with many failing to provide even 5 per cent of households with 100 days of work.
According to a nationwide compilation of data on the MGNREGA, none of the BJP-ruled states managed to provide employment to more than 10 per cent of households. Most of the states, barring Maharashtra, are on the list of worst performers. The data is for the last year.
At the bottom of the list are BJP-ruled states of Punjab (2 pc), Haryana (2 pc), Gujarat (3 pc) and Rajasthan (5 pc). Other poor performers include UP and Bihar which have provided only 3.4 per cent and 4.4 per cent households with 100 days of work.
On the poor performance of the BJP-ruled states, Rural Development Minister Chowdhary Birender Singh said jobs were created as per demand. But the fact is that many South Indian states, which provide daily wages much higher than MGNREGA rates, performed well. Tamil Nadu provided 100 days of work to 14 per cent of households, while Kerala provided 11 per cent, Karnataka 10 per cent, AP 12 per cent and Telangana 15 per cent.