Fund allocation for rural jobs as per demand: Nirmala Sitharaman
- Fund allocation for MGNREGA has not come down. It's a demand driven scheme: FM stated
New Delhi: There is no reduction in fund allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme in the Union Budget 2023, and the provision may increase with growing demand, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.
"Fund allocation for MGNREGA has not come down. It's a demand driven scheme. As and when demand increases, provision for more fund is being made," said the finance minister at a post budget interaction with stakeholders in Bhubaneshwar.
Sitharaman further said that the Centre has not reduced rice procurement. "We have not at all brought down the procurement of paddy or wheat. The quantum of procurement has gone up in the last 8 years and due to high minimum support price (MSP), the total amount given to the farmers is also high," the minister added.
Sitharaman also informed that the MSP is directly sent to the bank accounts of the farmers to eliminate intervention of middlemen.
Sitharaman said that Odisha has a large scheduled cast/scheduled tribe and tribal population for whom particular assistance has been extended in the union budget for FY24 in which the government wanted to reach total saturation in terms of all the schemes launched by the Centre.
"There's a special mention in this Budget where we're saying workers will be trained for meeting challenges and expectations of Industry 4.0...This budget is going to ready India's youth power not only for today's India but also for future India as well," she added.
The finance minister informed that the approach to deal with the poor, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is to empower them by giving them all basic requirements after which they'll be in a position to make a choice as to what they want to do."
Union Ministers of State for Finance Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad and Pankaj Chaudhary and other senior officials of finance ministry were also present on the occasion.
In her 2023-24 Union Budget, the finance minister increased her year-on-year capex target by more than 30 percent for the third year in a row. The sense in the government is that though private sector investment is picking up, the global macro-economic situation is still uncertain enough for the Centre to continue with an enhanced focus on public investment in infrastructure.
The budget offered relief for taxpayers, including in the highest tax brackets, and offered measures to support MSMEs. Sitharaman stuck to the fiscal consolidation roadmap.
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First Published:17 Feb 2023, 09:50 PM IST
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