The union government has released 35 per cent of the annual budget outlay for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MG-NREGS) within the first 40 days of the fiscal, reports Financial Express.

So far, a total of Rs 21,753 crore, with average daily release of funds till 10 May standing at a massive Rs 544 crore. This is significantly larger daily release of funds when compared to Rs 190 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 170 crore in 2018-19.

The rapid release of funds under the scheme comes as the centre is pushing its deployment to alleviate the distress of migrant workers and rural population which have been badly hit by the halt in economic activity in the nation owing to lockdown.

However, it should be noted that it is not yet clear how much of these funds released by the Centre to the States have been disbursed to the workers. Also, against an average of 48.39 days of work provided under the scheme in 2019-20, so far only an average of 11.72 days of work have provided to the rural poor.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that the Government has increased the daily wage per person under the scheme from Rs 182 in 2019-20 to Rs 204, leading to an increase in wages.