MGNREGS faces grant cut

• The Congress' flagship programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, is facing a big cut in its budgetary grant for the first time since its launch in 2006.
• The budgetary support for the current financial year was a tad lower at Rs. 40,000 crore but the progress of the MGNREGS has been so bad that the UPA government is now set to slash the allocation for the job scheme for the poor for the 2012-13 financial year by 10 to 20 per cent.
• Mr. Ramesh is aiming for a higher allocation for improving drinking water facilities and setting up toilets for better hygiene and cleanliness. If his proposal gets the nod, the budgetary allocation for ministries under his control will exceed Rs. 90,000 crore.
• But in any case, the allocation for the MGNREGS is likely to be cut by Rs. 4000 crore-Rs. 8000 crore.
• How poor the progress of the scheme has been during the current financial year could be gauged from the fact that the States spent only Rs. 20,866 crore, out of Rs. 22,251 crore released by the Centre, on providing jobs and creating assets till December-end.