Union Minister for Rural Development Giriraj Singh on Saturday challenged senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to debate on MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), both in terms of fund allocations and assets creation during the UPA rule from 2004 to 2014 and the nine years of Narendra Modi Government.
Speaking on the sidelines of the SARAS Mela in Noida, Giriraj Singh took strong exception to a Facebook post of Rahul in Hindi, citing a news report on reducing the MGNREGA budget and said the Congress leader should get his facts and figures right before making such ”wild allegations”.
He asserted that during the ten-year rule of the Congress-led UPA, the BE (Budget Estimate) of MGNREGA never exceeded Rs 33,000 crore and in most of the fiscals, the funds got surrendered due to poor implementation of the rural job scheme. On the other hand, he said that since May 2014, when Modi took charge as PM, every year the budget has increased.
He also challenged Rahul to check the asset creation during the UPA rule under the rural job scheme, which, he said, was merely 17 per cent, while in the last nine years, the asset creation has already crossed 60 per cent. He gave full credit to the PM for reorienting MGNREGA and its mandate from merely digging and filling holes.
The Congress leader had accused the BJP-led government yesterday of reducing the MGNREGA budget and stated that the rural job scheme, which was the foundation of India’s rural economy was becoming a victim of the Centre’s ”repressive policies”.
On the allegation that the government was misusing Aadhaar against poor sections of society by linking it to the scheme under MGNREGA, Giriraj Singh said, the aim of the Modi Government was to bring full transparency in the implementation of MGNREGA.