Punjab stands at No.16 in India in allocation of funds under MGNREG scheme: Answer to Question by MP Arora in Parliament. 

Ludhiana, December 9, 2023: The Centre has released funds worth Rs.118213.27 lakhs to Punjab during FY 2022-23 (around 13% of the total funds allocated to all the states across the country) under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) scheme. With this Punjab State stands at No.16 across the country. In the two previous financial years, Punjab was allocated more funds- Rs.125759.36 lakhs (FY 2021-22) and Rs.123913.55 lakhs (FY 2020-21). Also, Punjab workers are given lesser money per day compared to other adjoining states.

This has been revealed in data made available by the Union Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in reply to questions regarding amount spent under MGNREG scheme asked by MP (Rajya Sabha) from Ludhiana Sanjeev Arora in the ongoing winter session of Rajya Sabha. 

Arora had asked about the amount allocated for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) scheme in the last the three years; and the quantum of funds disbursed out of the allocation, State/UT-wise. 

As per the available data, Punjab stands at No.16 as far as allocation of funds are concerned for FY 2022-23. During FY 2022-23, Uttar Pradesh stands first as it was allocated funds worth Rs.1062900.83 lakh followed by Tamil Nadu (Rs.970662.48 lakh), Rajasthan (Rs.966299.14 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (Rs.798909.30 lakh), Bihar (Rs.639528.76 lakh), Karnataka (Rs.622528.20 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (Rs.570213.49 lakh), Odisha (Rs.463836.25 lakh), Kerala (Rs.381842.70 lakh), Chhattisgarh (Rs.338355.40 lakh), Telangana (Rs.298868.14 lakh), Jharkhand (Rs.270863.73 lakh), Maharashtra (Rs.254973.07 lakh), Assam (Rs.205234.84 lakh) and Gujarat (Rs.169207.36 lakh).

Arora has expressed his concern over allocating lesser funds to Punjab during 2022-23 compared to the previous two financial years. He said, “It’s is a great injustice to people of Punjab”, adding that the MGNREG scheme is a demand driven wage employment scheme which provides for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. 

He remarked, “Lesser allocation of funds means lesser opportunities for employment.”  He said he would urge upon the Centre to enhance allocation of funds to Punjab under the scheme to ensure livelihood security of more households in rural areas of Punjab. 

As per the available data, the financial allocation under the scheme for FY 2022-23 was Rs.90,810.99 crore to all the states across the country. An interesting fact has come out of the data, which reveals that the release of funds to the State of West Bengal has been stopped as per provision of Section 27 of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 due to non-compliance of directives of Central Government.