Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme -commonly known as MNREGA - which saved millions of Indians from destitution and hunger during the Covid19 Pandemic has witnessed a 25.5% cutback in Budget 2022 proposals.

The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her more than one-hour long speech did not even mention the scheme which had been the lifeline to a major part of the jobless rural Indians. The 32 page long speech uploaded on the finance ministry website does not mention the program, though the annexures under ‘Outlay on Major Schemes’ terms MGNREGP as the “Core of the Core Schemes” with one of the largest outlays. During the last budget presentation the government had underlined the contribution of MNREGA in providing relief to the rural population.

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