Panel On MGNREGA Restructuring:
The Central Government has set up a panel to recommend structural and other reforms required for the effective implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
- The panel will be headed by Amarjeet Sinha – the former Rural Development Secretary and advisor in the PMO.
- Chief Economic Advisor Anantha Nageswaran is one of the members of this panel.
- The panel met for the first time in November 21 this year.
- It is expected to submit its report by February 2023.
- The MGNREGA was enacted in 2005 to implement a demand-driven scheme that guarantees 100 days of unskilled work per year for any rural household that requires it.
- The panel is tasked with assessing various factors behind the demand for MGNREGA work, expenditure incurred by the government, inter-state variations, and the composition of work.
- The panel will also look into the argument that the cost of providing work under MGNREGA has surged since the scheme was launched.
- It will provide recommendations on changes in focus areas and governance structures to make MGNREGA more effective.
- The Panel will study the composition of work taken up under the MGNREGA, which has been criticized for not providing tangible assets.
- It will provide recommendations on whether the composition of work must be changed and review whether the scheme should focus more on community-based assets or individual works.
