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%3Cstrong%3ERural%20Job%20Guarantee%3C/strong%3E%3A%20The%20Mahatma%20Gandhi%20National%20Rural%20Employment%20%28MNREGA%29%20Scheme%20has%20been%20a%20lifesaver%20for%20migrants%20who%20were%20forced%20to%20go%20back%20home%20after%20a%20nationwide%20lockdown%20as%20well%20as%20for%20the%20rural%20poor.%20This%20UPA%20era%20scheme%20has%20provided%20employment%20to%20hundreds%20of%20thousands%20of%20rural%20poor%20during%20this%20COVID%20year.%20After%20ridiculing%20the%20scheme%20initially%2C%20the%20Modi%20government%20had%20been%20forced%20to%20increase%20allocation%20for%20MNREGA%20this%20fiscal%20to%20take%20the%20total%20corpus%20to%20a%20little%20over%20Rs%20one%20lakh%20crore.%20But%20the%20budget%20has%20allocated%20only%20Rs%2073%2C000%20crore%20for%20this%20scheme%20for%20FY22.%20Activists%20had%20been%20seeking%20not%20just%20a%20massive%20increase%20in%20allocation%20under%20MNREGA%20%28to%20Rs%20two%20lakh%20crore%29%2C%20they%20had%20also%20asked%20for%20rationalisation%20of%20wages%20paid%20under%20this%20scheme.

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