New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The Rural Development Ministry has been allocated Rs 1.88 lakh crore in the Union Budget for 2025-26, around 5.75 per cent more than the allocation in the previous budget.

According to the budget proposals made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, the Rural Development Ministry has been earmarked Rs 1,77,566.19 crore against Rs 1,77,566.19 crore allocated in the Budget for 2024-25.

However, the 2024-25 Revised Estimate, a midyear review of the expenditure done by the ministry, stood at Rs 1,73,912.11 crore, Rs 3,654.08 crore fewer than the initial allocation.

The allocation for flagship rural employment scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Scheme (MGNREGS) was Rs 86,000 crore, the same as the last year.  In 2023-24, the allocation for MGNREGS was Rs 60,000 crore, but additional funds were provided and the actual expenditure stood at Rs 89,153.71 crore, the Budget document showed. No additional allocations for MGNREGS were made in 2024-25.  The scheme provides guaranteed 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to at least one member of every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It keeps at least one-third of jobs for women.

In the Covid pandemic year of 2020-21, when MGNREGS proved a lifeline in providing employment in rural areas amid huge reverse migration in the lockdown period, Rs 1,11,169 crore was spent on the scheme, according per previous budget documents.

In her Budget speech, Sitharaman announced that a comprehensive multi-sectoral 'Rural Prosperity and Resilience' programme will be launched in partnership with states.  She said it will address underemployment in agriculture through skilling, investment, technology, and invigorating the rural economy.

"The goal is to generate ample opportunities in rural areas so that migration is an option, not a necessity. The programme will focus on rural women, young farmers, rural youth, marginal and small farmers, and landless families," the minister said.

Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan lauded the Budget, saying it aims at creating an "Atmanirbhar Bharat" or self-reliant India.

"This is the Budget of 140 crore Indians. It is a Budget for creating an Atmanirbhar Bharat. Every section of society has been taken care of," Chouhan said.

The minister said creating poverty-free villages for a poverty-free India is the focus of the government.

"For a poverty-free India, we need poverty-free villages. The finance minister announced the Rural Prosperity and Resilience Programme. For this, rural women, youths, farmers, landless labour, will all be brought together, along with state governments" he said.

"This Budget will be crucial in removing poverty from rural India," Chouhan said.  Among key schemes of the Rural Development Ministry, Rs 19,000 crore has been allocated for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, almost 58 percent more than Rs 12,000 crore allocated in the last Budget, but 31 percent more compared to the revised estimate, which stood at Rs 14,500 crore.  The allocation for the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) was Rs 19,005 crore, 26 percent more than the last year's Budget allocation of Rs 15,047 crore.

For the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), the allocation is Rs 54,832.00 crore, almost the similar amount as the last budget's allocation of Rs 54,500.14 crore.

The revised estimate, however, was Rs 32,426.33, which reflected the actual spending by the ministry. PTI AO AO TIR TIR

Rural development funding sustained and MGNREGS allocation unchanged as a Rural Prosperity and Resilience programme is announced. The Budget sustains Rural Development funding with a marginal increase while keeping the MGNREGS allocation unchanged, reaffirming its guarantee of 100 days of unskilled wage employment per household and at least one third jobs for women. It announces a multi sectoral Rural Prosperity and Resilience programme with states to address agricultural underemployment via skilling, investment and technology, and adjusts allocations for rural roads, livelihoods mission and rural housing to align policy priorities toward creating rural opportunities and reducing compelled migration.