Additional Funds For MGNREGS Won’t Be Released By Centre

The Centre will not release any additional funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for Fiscal Year 2025.

The centre reasons that the outlay of Rs. 86,000 crore should be enough for the year. As per reports, there have been around Rs. 7500 crore remains unspent under the scheme and officials have reportedly said that the unspent balance from this year’s allocation should cover the remaining period.

The central government also points out that some relatively well-off states were diverting funds and with this, they have turned the rural employment guarantee scheme into an alternative income source. This hampers the original purpose of providing jobs to the needy under the MGNREGS.

“The highest amount the states had drawn was during Covid at about Rs 1.1 lakh crore when rural distress was real. Is Rs 86,000 crore low in normal times and rural demand is relatively doing well,” an official was reportedly quoted saying.

So far in FY25, the Centre has released Rs. 82,684 crore which is 96% of the annual outlay of Rs. 86,000 crore.
Reports suggest that the actual spending is around Rs. 94,500 crore, which includes utilisation of some past savings in the scheme as well.

Worth mentioning here that recently Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged the Centre to release the funds without further delay.