Finance ministry releases Rs 10,000 crore in urgent aid for NREGS
finance ministry has released ₹10,000 crore in urgent assistance to meet unexpected enhanced expenditure under the rural job guarantee scheme until the first batch of supplementary demands for grants is approved by parliament at its next session, a senior official said.
The unusual move came after 95% of the FY24 budgetary outlay of ₹60,000 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) was exhausted well before the commencement of the winter session of parliament, thanks to a rise in work demand, the official told ET.
The urgent funds, released last week to the rural development ministry, will form a part of the additional ₹28,000 crore that could be allocated for the scheme in the first batch of supplementary demands for grants for FY24, he said.
The government is yet to announce the dates for the winter session of parliament.
At a pre-budget meeting in October, the rural development ministry had asked the finance ministry for additional funds for the rural employment scheme due to enhanced work demand.
More people sought work under the MGNREGS until October this fiscal year from a year before, contradicting initial official projections of a moderation in demand. This is mainly due to an erratic monsoon that prevented the usual migration of workers to farming and a tentative industrial recovery, experts have said.
