Gopinath Munde bats for MGNREGA; may be linked to development

NEW DELHI: The rural job guarantee scheme, MGNREGA, is likely to undergo changes with the new rural development minister, Gopinathrao Munde, planning to link it to development of villages. "I like this scheme. This scheme is best for villages. Basically, people get employment," said Munde, who took charge of the ministry on Tuesday. He, however, said there are "problems" in its implementation.

"Proper management is a problem; proper disbursement of money is a problem. I think the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee) money should go to the development of villages and people should get employment." The senior BJP leader also said that his priority would be proper implementation of the recently enacted Land Acquisition law and Narendra Modi’s key electoral plank — that every household will be provided sanitation and drinking water MGNREGA is widely seen as a plank on which the UPA government returned to power in 2009.

The scheme entitles millions of rural workers enrolled under it to 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household. Implementation of the scheme, which has an annual allocation of over Rs 30,000 crore, has been hit due to delays and issues with release of funds. There are also issues related to authenticity of beneficiaries enrolled under it.