Making a strong defence of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a senior Finance Ministry official said the scheme has served its purpose.
Arvind Mayaram, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance, said that schemes seen as ‘untimely welfare measures’ are crucial for inclusive growth in a country where 35 per cent of the people live below the poverty line.
“For 60 years we had the Minimum Wages Act, which was never implemented. India’s economy, for a very long time, was subsidised by the poor and not the other way round,” he said, adding that the country’s growth depended on the availability of “cheap labour”.
Emphasising that the MGNREGA has helped the poor, Mayaram said the total number of rural poor who sought work under the scheme has actually come down, because it has given them bargaining power with employers.
In line with inclusive growth, the scheme pays equal wages to women, who constitute more than 50 per cent of the workers, he said.