The MGNREGA has created 153.16 crore person-days of employment during April-July. Not only is this way higher than the 107.24 person-days for the corresponding four months of last fiscal, but also significant compared to the 267.96 crore and 265.35 crore person-days generated in the whole of 2018-19 and 2019-20, respectively. Moreover, it is necessary to note that April was a washout month.
With the focus of administrations then on enforcing the lockdown, the 11.93 crore person-days of employment was less than half of that during the same month last year. The real ramp-up happened in May (50.88 crore person-days) and June (61.44 crore, an all-time-high), before falling to 28.91 crore in July.
Overall, the Modi government has done the right thing by stepping up allocations both for MGNREGA and PDS grains. But in the end, MGNREGA cannot be any more than a scheme that provides employment during the agricultural lean season for landless labourers and marginal cultivators. Now, the focus has to be on getting people, including the migrant labourers, back to normal work.
