Revamped MGNREGA: Infra, foolproof funding in focus

CENTRE, STATES TO SHARE COSTS IN 6:4 RATIO

- PRASANTA SAHU

TO CURB RAMPANT leakages, the proposed law to replace the two-decade-old rural job guarantee programme - MG-NREGA - seeks a complete overhaul of the programme, shifting focus to strategic infrastructure creation and a predetermined funding pattern.

The scheme will no longer be demand-driven, and states will share its costs in line with other centrally sponsored schemes in a 6:4 ratio.

Under the current system, MGNREGA operates as an open-ended, demand-based programme in which the Centre bears the full cost of unskilled wages -typically accounting for nearly 75% of the scheme's annual outlay of about ₹85,000-90,000 crore.

States contribute only 25% towards material costs and skilled or semiskilled labour, resulting in limited fiscal responsibility at the state level.