Get MGNREGS right

Apropos of the report “Unrealistic planning, inadequate staff, lack of monitoring adversely impacting MGNREGA” (FE, June 29), given the drought-proofing capacity of the huge amounts of funds allocated for MGNREGS, strict accountability should be enforced; else, it will result in wastage of money with zero benefit to the poor at the time of crisis. The chief objective of the mission should be the creation of productive rural assets like water harvesting systems, watersheds, irrigation facilities, afforestation, protection of catchment areas and boosting dryland agriculture. This will not only ensure food security and fodder availability, but also ecological restoration crucial to precluding droughts and the consequent distress migrations and cattle sales to slaughterhouses, as has happened recently. The past experience with MGNREGS has shown that the scheme suffers from self-defeating shortcomings like tardy payment of wages, lack of decentralisation and myopic focus on employment generation data. These aspects have to be eliminated. Another serious drawback of MGNREGS is that it draws agricultural labour away from farm activities like weeding (especially for millets), ploughing and harvesting, which a small-farmer cannot do all by himself. This is pushing up farmlabour costs and necessitating debts for the latter. Hence, there is a need for including and subsiding these activities under the scheme, so that the small-farmer can cut down costs. The Editor,The Financial Express, B1/B, Sector - 10, Noida - 201301. Distt: Gautam Budh Nagar (U.P.).or e-mail at: feletters@expressindia.com or fax at Delhi: 0120-4367933