Drought in Karnataka: Govt seeks hike in MGNREGA persondays

Karnataka Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge has asked the Union government to increase the total persondays (PD) under the rural employment guarantee scheme from 100 to 150 due to the drought situation in the state.

In a letter to Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh, Priyank also sought a hike in the labour budget allocation from 13 crore PDs to 18 crore for the current fiscal.

Priyank explained that the drought situation in Karnataka would lead to increased demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). He stated that Karnataka “consistently” leads in generating employment under MGNREGA.

“The state has a labour budget allocation of 13 crore PDs for the current financial year and has already generated 8.48 crore PDs of employment so far,” Priyank stated.

Karnataka has declared 195 taluks (blocks) as drought-hit, the minister pointed out. “Currently, employment has been provided to 20.86 lakh households, generating 7.36 crore PDs of employment in these drought-affected blocks,” he stated.

According to Priyank, the 195 drought-hit taluks have a cumulative PD target of 12.34 crore for the current fiscal and “the extension of employment from 100 to 150 days will impact the cumulative PD target for these blocks.”

Priyank also stated that Karnataka has averaged 1.52 crore PDs of employment generation per month in the first five-and-a-half months of the current fiscal and the approved labour budget of 13 crore PDs will “exhaust rapidly”.