Are we blind to the needs of the poor?

Ever since the Narendra Modi government took over at the Centre 10 years ago, there is one huge segment of the population which have been battered and bruised beyond compare because of its pro-rich and pro-corporate policies.

They are the poor and deprived of India whose numbers run into crores and crores.

The latest blow for the poor is the decision of the Central government to make the Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) mandatory for MGNREGA payments, which opposition parties have termed as an ‘assault’ on the rural employment guarantee scheme.

The government’s justification: Of the 25.25 crore registered workers only 14.35 crores are eligible, because they have done at least one day's work over the last three years.

According to the opposition, as many as 12. 7 per cent, or around 1.8 crore workers, do not have ABPS and will therefore not be eligible to work in MGNREGA.

The MGNREGA has over the years, proved to be a lifeline for the rural poor, particularly during times when they face high distress caused by unemployment.

It has been helping them to at least earn enough to fill their bellies so that they and their families do not face the grim prospect of starvation.

There have been subtle attempts over the past decade to reduce funding for the job scheme which has hit the rural poor hard.

But with all its limitations, MGNREGA continues to be a beacon of hope for the most deprived, who live from day to day hoping that the future will bring some light to their dreary lives.

There can be nothing more insensitive than adopt inexplicable norms to deprive a substantial part of these hapless workers of their means of livelihood.

Subjecting the common man and the poor to hardships has become a habit for those in power, right from demonetisation which made crores queue up eight years before ATMs and banks to draw their hard-earned money, to the abject failure to control the price of something as widely consumed as onions.

Prices of food grains and pulses are going through the roof like never before but there is hardly any state intervention, with citizens forced to dig into their hard earned resources to make both ends meet.

To add to the woes of MGNREGA beneficiaries, the government has been carrying out a large number of deletions of job cards, while claiming that it was being done to prevent scams!

According to data presented by the Rural Development Ministry in the Lok Sabha, over 2.18 crore job cards -- affecting more than 5.48 crore workers -- were deleted in 2022-23, a jump of 267 per cent compared to 2021-22.

More than 67.57 lakh job cards were deleted in 2023-24. A couple of meals a day, a roof to sleep under and a job to keep the pot boiling in the house are essentials which every Indian dreams of and by making the rules stringent for a life-saving scheme like MGNREGA, the government is targeting the very vitals of their existence.

There is nothing wrong in aiming for a Dollar 5 trillion economy or providing incentives for corporate growth but the poor need to be cushioned from the adversities of the times for this is no developed country yet.

Joblessness and malnourishment are still too high for any economist’s comfort in this country and so welfare schemes and dole outs are nothing less than essential to bring the smile back on the commoner’s face.

The poor deserve their rightful share of the fruits of development and to deprive them of much-needed succour by clamping stringent norms for a scheme like MGNREGA, the government is shutting its eyes to their desperate plea for basic needs.

All one needs to do to realise this is recall that touching quote of the Mahatma, which is considered an abiding principle for any government: “Recall the face of the poorest and weakest man you have seen, and ask yourself if this step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.”