New Delhi: Several state governments have written to the Ministry of Rural Development seeking an increase in the number of work days they can award under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), ThePrint has learnt.
The request, which comes six months into the current financial year, was made since many states have either already exceeded or sanctioned over 90 percent of their projected ‘person days’, or work days, under the programme, said sources in the ministry. These states include Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Rajasthan.
States that have written to the ministry include Rajasthan, Assam and Telangana.
As ThePrint reported earlier, the rural development ministry is learnt to have used up 94 percent of its budget for MNREGA within the first six months of the financial year and has written to the finance ministry for more funds.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 (MGNREGA) guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment each financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. For instance, if four members of a household work for four days, then it will be counted as four person days for that household.
Under the scheme, each state is given a labour budget — the number of work days each state can award under the scheme. This budget, which the rural development ministry fixes at the start of the financial year, is based on the states’ own projected demand.
ThePrint reached a rural development ministry representative for comment via WhatsApp. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
In a statement issued last week, the ministry had stated that till 4 October, it had released Rs 56,103.69 crore to states.
Rajasthan, UP, Assam getting their labour budget reviewed
Significantly, states such as Rajasthan, UP and Assam are currently trying to get their labour budget reviewed, according to sources.
For instance, the Congress-led Rajasthan government has written to the rural development ministry to increase the labour budget as the state has crossed the 20 crore person days limit recently, a senior state government official privy to the development told ThePrint.
“We have written to the Centre to increase person days. Meanwhile, we are awarding work even though the labour budget is yet to be revised,” the senior official said.
The labour budget sanctioned to Rajasthan this year is 14 crore work days short compared to what was approved last year as on 9 October, according to the NREGA portal. The central government approved 34 crore person days for FY 2022-23, but the state awarded 35.7 crore person days of work, the portal shows.
Similarly, the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh has sanctioned 21.46 crore person days till 9 October as against the sanctioned labour budget of 21 crore. Last year, the approved person days were 31 crore.
“We are in the process of reviewing the labour budget for some states. We have completed the process for a few states such as Uttar Pradesh. Meetings with other states have been scheduled in the coming days,” another ministry official told ThePrint.
Meanwhile, the Assam government is scheduled to discuss the labour budget and other aspects of the implementation of MGNREGA in the state with the ministry on 11 October, according to a senior state government official.
“We have utilised over 97 percent of the approved person days. We have requested the rural development ministry to increase it further as the demand for work usually peaks now. We have a review meeting this week,” the official told ThePrint.
Explaining this, the official said the state had already generated 5.8 crore person days as against the 6 crore approved this year.
“The central government pays the wages for the work done under MGNREGS. Therefore, the budget has to be approved by it. But it usually gets approved after a demand is raised by the state,” the official said.
States like Tamil Nadu and Tripura have also surpassed the number of sanctioned person days of 28 crore and 2.5 crore respectively, the NREGA portal shows.
The Telangana government has also written to the rural development ministry, a senior state government official said. “As against approved 9 crore person days, we have already sanctioned over 8.15 crore. We have asked the ministry to increase it by three crore person days. Like last year, 12 crore person days will be generated (awarded) this year too,” the official told ThePrint.
82% of sanctioned person days in six months
According to information available on the ministry’s portal, the labour budget (sanctioned person days) was 230 crore of which 189.12 crore person days (82.16 percent) have been awarded until 9 October.
The labour budget or person days for FY 2023-24 is less than what was sanctioned in the past five years, according to data on the ministry’s website. In 2022-23, it was 285.33 crore and 337.76 crore the year before. The central government also slashed the budget for MGNREGA this year to Rs 60,000 crore against Rs 73,000 crore last year.
According to the first senior ministry official, the labour budget for each state is decided based on their own projections.
“It is a projected figure based on the past demands. It is not a fixed number and is increased as and when the demand is placed by the state. MGNREGA is a demand-driven scheme and no worker can be denied work,” the official said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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