Karnataka used up 70% of annual MGNREGA quota in 6 months amid prevailing drought across 195 taluks

State minister Priyank Kharge had last month written to the Centre asking for increase in the total persondays (PD) under the MGNREGA scheme.

Further driving home the severity of drought in Karnataka, the state has, in six months, finished up 70 per cent of its allocated quota of person-days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Karnataka has been allotted 13 crore person days by the BJP-led Centre. Last month, Karnataka Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge wrote to 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.

Kharge had also sought a hike in the labour budget allocation from 13 crore PDs to 18 crore for the current fiscal.

The letter to the Union government last month had pointed out that the state had by then generated 8.48 crore PDs of employment so far, which now stands at 9.14 crore person-days.

Daily wage under the MGNREGA scheme is Rs 300.

"Considering the present drought situation and given that as much as 70 per cent of the person-days have been exhausted, we have approached the Centre for additional budgetary allocation of five crore person-days," The Times of India quoted MGNREGA commissioner Pavan Kumar Malapati in a report.

Kharge had explained that the drought situation in the state would lead to increased demand for work under the MGNREGA scheme and Karnataka has 'consistently' been leading in generating employment under the same.

The report also said that out of the beneficiaries under the scheme in the current fiscal, 52 per cent are women while those under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes constitute 17 and 12 per cent of workers, respectively.

A comparison with last year showed that 17,927 households got work under MGNREGA as of October 7 in contrast with last financial year 2022-23, where 31,678 secured 100 days of work.

Drought in Karnataka has caused an estimated loss of Rs 30,432 crore, Law Minister HK Patil recently announced.

Karnataka has declared 195 taluks as drought-hit, making it three-fourths of the state’s geography.