New Delhi: The BJP-led NDA government has been making immense changes at the centre. However, PM Narendra Modi’s possible move to scrap NREGA, the employment guarantee scheme by UPA government has not gone down well with leading economists.
According to news reports, 28 leading economists have written a sharp letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who say that the NDA government is trying to dilute the rural jobs guarantee scheme brought in by the UPA government.
According to NDTV the economists stated in the letter, "It is alarming to hear of multiple moves (some of them going back to the preceding government) to dilute or restrict the provisions of the Act. Wages have been frozen in real terms, and long delays in wage payments have further reduced their real value.”
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was introduced by the Congress-led UPA government in 2005 that has seen immense success since then. The economists said in the letter that about 50 million households are getting jobs annually at a relatively smaller cost, and that there have been “widely ranging social benefits”.
The letter also mentions that corruption levels have reduced over time.
"It is alarming to hear of multiple moves (some of them going back to the preceding government) to dilute or restrict the provisions of the Act. Wages have been frozen in real terms, and long delays in wage payments have further reduced their real value," the economists wrote.
"The message seems to be that the new government is not committed to the NREGA and hopes to restrict it as much as possible," the economists wrote, urging PM Modi to ensure that the programme receives all the support it needs to survive.
The signatories to the letter include Dilip Abreau of Princeton, Pranab Bardhan of Berkeley, development economist Jean Dreze, Maitreesh Ghatak of London School of Economics, Ritika Khera of IIT Delhi and Anirban Kar of the Delhi School of Economics.
