The efficacy of social welfare programmes, crucial for an economy dependent on an agricultural sector in perpetual distress, is often blunted by blind spots in policy. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is a case in point: it has been battling a sustained crunch in budgetary allocations as well as problematic technological interventions in the name of enhancing efficiency that have disturbed the wage payment process. An equally formidable, emerging challenge for State spending in social welfare is the politicisation of welfarism on account of the fractious bond shared between the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre and states run by parties in the Opposition. Two recent examples have come to light, both involving Delhi and Bengal. A Central report has alleged that Bengal had inflated mid-day meals to the tune of over Rs 100 crore: Bengal has said that the report was prepared without the nod of the state representative. Meanwhile, in another instance, a non-governmental organisation has informed the Supreme Court that wages amounting to Rs 2,762 crore has not been disbursed to workers in Bengal under the MGNREGA programme because of the Centre’s refusal to send funds because of perceived irregularities.
The Bengal chief minister has alleged partisanship on the part of the Centre and threatened a political agitation. The BJP, mindful of the resultant resentment on the ground before the panchayat elections, will only be happy to stoke the flames. The real victims of this tug of war between the Centre and the state would be the rural population, which is heavily dependent on MGNREGA allowance. West Bengal was a topper among states in terms of the number of people employed under the scheme in the 2021-22 fiscal. Corruption in the lower roots of governance is not implausible. But the menace is not confined to Opposition-ruled states. There should be a joint mechanism to root out the problem. Squabbling over public welfare — a right, not a responsibility — is the worst kind of advertisement for Indian federalism.
