PM Modi re-engineered, reformed and cleaned up MGNREGS
schemes — Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile (JAM) — plugged fund leakages.
Another big issue was the massive use of fake job cards under MGNREGS. In 2010, the Planning Commission after evaluating MGNREGS had spoken of delayed payments and mass-scale corruption. The Modi government went on a massive cleaning spree. In 2017, nearly 10 million fake MGNREGS job cards were found and stuck-off from the scheme. It is indeed confusing to find Sonia Gandhi accuse this government of not issuing job cards, when fake job cards proliferated under her party’s rule. It is pity that she accuses this government of delayed payment, when only 34% of payment was done on time during her regime.
In the Comptroller and Auditor General of India report (2007-12), it was mentioned that only 30% work under MGNREGS had been completed. Today, all the work is geotagged and target-driven approach towards MGNREGS has been given primacy. In the words of late Arun Jaitley: “Wage through MGNREGS will be through works that are more productive, asset creating and linked to agriculture and agri-related activities”.
By converging various aspects, almost 60% of the work helps in natural resource management. Another major reform by this government is the addition of individual beneficiary work; today, 67% of all work amunts to individual beneficiaries. Apart from creating sustainable livelihoods, it is this reform that will aid our fight against Covid as this work can be done while maintaining social distancing. Today, when a resolute Modi 2.0 government is fighting the virus and its various outcomes, the ~1,01,500 crore allocated for MGNREGS will help India navigate this temporary crisis.
The only reason why this government is using MGNREGS in its fight against Covid-19 is not because this government believes in the scheme’s political legacy that the Congress claims to own, but because we believe in the work done in reforming it and making it the reliable and powerful tool that it is today. down period to create makeshift jumbo facilities in stadiums and colleges; it urgently needs this. And unlike Mumbai, which also did so too late, it has not yet capped the fees of private hospitals, permitting a class divide in health care response that is morally egregious. Governments should be focusing on fixing a broken system; instead promoters of private hospitals and laboratories have begun to whisper about pressures to under-test. The problem is rooted in the paranoia and hysteria around testing positive and the suggestion that being Covid-19-positive is a calamitous event. Our focus must be on deaths, not cases.
Fundamental things need to be addressed in both cities. Health care workers need to be requisitioned from states that are doing relatively better on an urgent basis. There needs to be a clear chain of command, not multiple officials with giant egos fighting petty battles that pull doctors in different directions. People need to be encouraged to stay at home and not rush to the hospital if they have mild symptoms. In the absence of enough polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kits and dodgy serological tests, X-rays may be the only cost-effective way along with oximeters and temperature screening to sift who needs a swab. Oxygen cylinders need to travel into containment zones so that you can buy time for gasping patients till they get an ambulance. Above all, governments need to have representation (along with ambulances on standby) outside hospitals to talk to patients, families — to comfort them, advise them, or redirect them to the facilities where beds do exist.
I first saw the abdication of the Indian State when migrants were walking on the road. Now it is happening outside hospitals — and at funeral grounds. Covid-affected patients cannot be orphaned.
And no dashboard on a mobile app can be a substitute for a real person.