© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MG-NREGS) did not see any change in its budget, with the government keeping the rural job scheme outlay at Rs 86,000 crore in the Union Budget 2025-26.
The Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), which saw a drastic cut at the revised estimates (RE) stage, has also been allocated almost the same amount as the last year.
This year, the allocation of MG-NREGS is lower as compared to the actual expenditure of Rs 89,153 crore during financial year 2023-24.
Reversing the recent trends of allocating lesser outlay in budget as compared to previous year’s revised estimates (RE), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had provided Rs 86,000 crore for the MG-NREGS for financial year 2024-25 in her budget last year. However, this higher allocation came during the poll year, which saw general elections to the Lok Sabha and elections to several state assemblies.
The NREGS is a demand-driven scheme, and the government can allocate additional amounts required at any time through supplementary demands of grants. However, a lower outlay in the general budget sends signals affecting sentiment on the ground. Therefore, a higher allocation in the budget may send positive signals to states and districts.
For PMAY-G, the Finance Minister has allocated Rs 54,831.99 crore for the financial year 2025-26, which is a little over to the current fiscal year’s BE of Rs 54,500.13 crore. This comes after rural housing saw a massive cut of 36.83% at the RE stage during the current fiscal year (2024-25).
In the Union Budget 2024-25 presented in July last year, the government had allocated Rs 54,500.13 crore for the PMAY-G, but it was revised downward to 32,426.32 crore in the RE—a cut of 36.83%.
However, an allocation of Rs 54,831.99 crore has been made for the PMAY-G for the financial year 2025-26, which is a little over as compared to the last year’s budget estimates (BE) but a substantial jump (69%) over the RE.
Sources say that the cut in the PMAY-G budget at the RE stage was due to a delay in the approval of the next phase of the scheme after the general elections and a delay in the release of funds to several states.
Launched in April 2016, the PMAY-G aimed at constructing 2.95 crore houses in rural areas. However, after the Modi government voted back to power in June last year, it extended the scheme till financial 2028-29 and set a target of construction of another two crore rural houses.
