Amid the din of ministries hogging the limelight with their 100-day agendas, one ministry has been relatively less discussed. But arguably, the ministries of rural development and panchayati raj are at as significant a cusp of reform as any other ministry. In terms of budgetary allocation, the ministry of rural development, now in charge of large flagship programmes, from NREGA to Indira Awas Yojana, is the most significant in this cabinet. In terms of direct impact on the lives of millions of people, the scope and reach of this ministry is remarkable. But there are special reasons to pay attention to these ministries at this historical juncture for a number of factors.

First, there is no doubt that the architecture of rural welfare will be created through these ministries. Every single scheme in this ministry has received significant increases in its budget. NREGA now has universal coverage and the wage rate has been increased to Rs 100 per day. In this sense, the scheme will inevitably move from a modest self-identified employment guarantee scheme to a much more ambitious welfare scheme. For the most part this is for the good. But the implementation and political management of this scheme (particularly fixing wage rates) will arguably command more and more attention.

In an ideal economy, NREGA would become less necessary. But the direction of its institutionalisation suggests that it will acquire characteristics of a classic welfare scheme, rather than a scheme of last resort. Second, the government is also proposing an ambitious convergence programme, where NREGA is allied to a host of other programmes. At some level, this convergence may be sensible, but designing an architecture that does not derail existing schemes in the name of convergence is going to be a tricky issue. In particular, crucial choices will have to be made about who retains the final decision-making authority over the form convergence takes at the local level.

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