Rs 10,000 crore allocated for job scheme unspent in 2009-10

BANGALORE: Planning Commission Member Abhijit Sen today said a sum of Rs 10,000 crore allocated for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme remained unspent in the year 2009-10 due to strict discipline in its implementation.

Delivering the Prof L S Venkataramanan Memorial Lecture on "Inclusive Growth" at Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) here, Sen said the UPA government had allocated Rs 45,000 crore for the scheme in 2009-10 but nearly Rs 10,000 crore remained unspent.

There was less corruption in the scheme due to strict monitoring, discipline and social auditing, he said.

Sen, economist and former JNU professor,said poor management of foodgrains, last year's drought and a high economic growth rate led to inflation and rise in the prices of foodgrains.

Prof Sen said the high economic growth rate in the last one decade led to more demand for foodgrains and supply commodities were badly hit due to decline in food production due to drought last year.