New Delhi | The Congress on Saturday alleged that the Narendra Modi government has "forced digitalisation" in MGNREGA in the name of transparency, using it as a tool to discourage demand for the programme among those who genuinely need the scheme.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh's attack on the government came after a media report claimed that six months into the financial year, the flagship rural employment programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), has run out of funds.

In a post on X, Ramesh said that on the one hand, 48 per cent of all vehicle sales in India between April and Sept this financial year year were of SUVs, and in the same six-month period, Rs. 60,000 crore budgeted under MGNREGA for the whole year has been exhausted.

"This not only clearly indicates the deepening rural distress and rising inequality across the country, but also demonstrates the Modi government's priorities which is indirectly suppressing demand for MGNREGA work by inordinately delaying wage payments," Ramesh said.

"To make matters worse, the Modi government has forced digitalisation in the name of transparency, while actually using it as a tool to discourage demand for MGNREGA among those who genuinely need the programme," he alleged.

The Congress last week had accused the Centre of carrying out a “planned euthanasia” of MGNREGS by “inordinately delaying” the funding of social audits, claiming this results in compromising the process, which is used by the government to deny funds to the states.