No discrimination found in Gujarat job scheme

NEW DELHI: The Congress had viewed reports of alleged “discrimination” against Muslims in the implementation of the National Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) in Gujarat’s riot-affected districts as an opportunity to score political points against the BJP government in the state.

But their expectations have come to nought. An investigation by the central government in villages where the scheme’s implementation was being questioned for keeping Muslims out, has found no evidence of discrimination.

Sources in the rural development ministry said there were two reports generated on the subject — one by the ministry and another by the state government — both of which found no evidence of discrimination against Muslims in the villages mentioned by a national daily about a month ago.

The team led by officials of the rural development ministry toured the villages in the Panchmahals and Sabarkantha districts and other talukas in the area mentioned in the report. The team did not find any evidence of discrimination but felt that people had formed an incorrect impression about the scheme.

Sources said that those who visited the area assumed that they would get paid without working under the job guarantee scheme. “Such people dropped out of the scheme as they were unwilling to undertake manual work such as soil digging,” said a source.

There were families displaced by the riots at the village and block-level engaged in small businesses such as running a cycle shop. Ministry sources said such families opted out of the scheme as they found their present occupation to be more profitable to that offered under the NREGA.

The investigation was ordered within a week of reports about Muslims being kept out of the NREGA in several villages of Panchmahals, Sabarkantha and Banaskantha districts in Gujarat. The Narendra Modi government’s report on the issue also came to the same conclusion as the Central government team, sources said.

Sources in the Congress said that no incidents of discrimination had taken place in the villages mentioned in the reports. The investigation undertaken by the ministry was being monitored by Congress leaders from the Capital.

The party, which was charged with bringing out a report on the subject, has now decided not to do so given the findings of the two teams. “There is always a 10% discrepancy in such schemes,” said a Congress leader.

It had earlier asked the Centre to get full details about the reports from the state government, while underlining that 90% of the scheme was funded by the Centre.