India’s parliament approves divisive rural jobs scheme despite opposition walkout
The scheme increases guaranteed workdays but shifts funding to states, as opposition cries foul over the changes
India’s parliament pushed through an overhaul of a rural employment scheme on Friday despite an opposition walkout and a session that stretched well past midnight.
The Developed India Employment Guarantee and Sustenance Mission bill will supersede a decades-old rural jobs scheme for millions of the country’s poorest.
It replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, a defining legacy of the previous left-leaning Congress government, which was in power from 2004 to 2014.
The older, US$9.5 billion government-funded programme guaranteed 100 days of employment each year for any rural household that requested it. Around 160 million households registered last year, according to official figures.
The new scheme raises the household guarantee to 125 days. Unlike the original demand-driven model – where funding and jobs responded to workers’ requests – it now adopts a supply-driven approach, with the government setting a fixed budget and determining job availability in advance.
It also shifts 40 per cent of the financial burden to state governments, with decisions on allocating work to be made by the central administration in New Delhi.
