UPA's flagship pro-poor schemes NREGA and Food Security may be revamped
The new government's first Budget may ring in a complete revamp of two flagship schemes of the previous Congress-led government - MNREGA or the rural jobs scheme and the food security plan.
The signs were clear in the Economic Survey, or the pre-budget report card of the economy tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today, which criticized both schemes and said a "revamp, reorganisation and convergence of social sector schemes is needed."
On MNREGA or the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the survey noted "lack of principal role in planning, execution and monitoring" and low awareness, resulting in "lack of ownership and ill-conceived planning".
Banker-turned-politician Meera Sanyal agreed, saying, "The NREGA scheme is good but its implementation is bad. I travelled all over and realised that the scheme not being implemented."
The survey was also critical about the UPA's showpiece food security legislation, saying, "Food and nutritional security concerns need to take into account changing consumption patterns."
The job guarantee Act, launched in 2005, promises 100 days of employment to the poor each year.
The Food Security Act mandates selling wheat and rice at cheaper rates to two out of three of India's 120 crore people, at the cost of Rs 1.2 lakh crore. Less than a year after it was enacted, the scheme championed by Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi has run into trouble.
The Narendra Modi government has pushed back by three months the deadline to roll out the Food Security scheme because 20 states are yet to implement it.
In its last budget, the ruling Congress had allocated 90,000 crore rupees for its pet theme, hoping to showcase mega pro-poor measures in its campaign for the national election.
The BJP, which took charge last month after massacring the Congress in the polls, may be prepping to reset these schemes.