New Delhi: Employment generated under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) decreased by 16.6 percent in the first half of the 2024-2025 financial year as compared to the corresponding period last year, with Tamil Nadu and Odisha registering the highest decline among all states, according to a report by civil society organisations LibTech India and NREGA Sangharsh Morcha released Friday.
The report titled ‘MGNREGA Implementation in India: Insights and Trends (April-September 2024)‘ also said there had been an 8 percent drop in the number of active workers between April and September this year as compared to the corresponding period last year.
The report raises concerns about the scheme’s implementation as demand for work, which rose by 10 percent last year from 2022-2023, has dropped this year. Between April and September 2024, 153.53 crore ‘person days’ were generated this year as compared to 183.99 crore in 2023-2024 and 166.17 crore in 2022-2023.
This decline underscores the shrinking base of workers participating in the programme, also raising concerns about access to employment for vulnerable rural populations, members of NREGA Sangharsh Morcha said in a press statement.
Senior rural development ministry officials said, on condition of anonymity, that MGNREGS is a demand-driven wage employment scheme and the number of active workers changes every financial year.
“Any individual of households who has worked a day in the last three financial years or in the current financial year is an active worker. Accordingly, the number of Active workers change in every financial year. During the current FY 2024-25 (as on 25.10.2024), the total number of Active workers is 13.20 crore. During the current financial year 2024-25 (as on 24.10.2024), employment offered to households is 99.81% against the demand,” they said.
The officials added, “The budget estimate is also on an increasing trend. During FY 2023-24, the Budget allocation was Rs.60,000 crore at Budget Estimate stage which is Rs 86,000 crore during the current FY 2024-25.”
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14 states register decline
Of the 20 states and Union territories analysed, 14 states have registered a decline in rural employment provided this year, while six states saw an increase.
Maharashtra (66 percent) and Himachal Pradesh (53.4 percent) experienced the highest rise in persondays when compared to last year, according to the report.
On the other hand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, and Jharkhand were among the states that saw a drop in the number of days of work provided this year with the biggest drops observed in Tamil Nadu (59.1 percent) and Odisha (49.7 percent).
A crucial reason for the decline in demand for work is the continuous drop in the number of active MGNREGS workers due to various reasons such as the erroneous deletion of names from the list and problems arising from the implementation of Aadhaar Based Payment System (ABPS) mandated since 1 January this year, among others.
Social activist Nikhil Dey, co-founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) and member of the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, said in a video statement, “It is not that the demand for work has dropped, but the problem is that people are not getting work. In Rajasthan, we have seen that people are not getting the work despite demanding it…Another issue is related to ABPS. As per the report, 50 lakh people are ineligible for ABPS for wages and another 50 lakh people’s job cards have been deleted.”
He added, “The main issue is that fund allocation continues to be very low, undermining the demand-based basic guarantee of the law.”
Net 39 lakh workers deleted this year
According to the report, the names of 84.84 lakh workers were deleted this year while 45.48 workers were added. The net deletion of workers this year, the report said, is around 39 lakh workers.
“It is reasonable to infer that the number of persondays generated would have been even higher if the wrongly deleted workers had been reinstated, highlighting the substantial reliance of workers on NREGA,” the report said.
The study found 8 percent drop in the number of active workers in the first half of this year compared to last year. Under MGNREGS, a worker is considered active if they have demanded work for at least one day in the past three years.
According to LibTech India’s previous reports, in total, more than 8 crore workers were removed from the MGNREGA registry in FY2022-2023 and 2023-2024.
This year, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar Assam, and Odisha were among the few states that have reported 4 to 14 percent net deletions, the report highlighted.
“The Union government’s strong push for implementing the Aadhaar-based payment system, coupled with the failure of state governments to adequately address erroneous deletions, has exacerbated the issue,” it said.
4.2 percent of active workers ineligible for ABPS payments
The ABPS was introduced by the Narendra Modi government in 2017 in a bid to ensure timely payment of wages to beneficiaries and also bring transparency into the system.
In January this year, the ABPS system was made mandatory for the settlement of wages under MGNREGS by the rural development ministry.
The report said 54 lakh active workers are ineligible to receive their wages through ABPS. 27.4 percent (6.7 crore) of all MGNREGS workers are ineligible for APBS. Assam, at 22 percent, has the highest number of ineligible active workers.
Under ABPS, a worker’s Aadhaar number is linked to their job card and to a bank account, which in turn is connected to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for them to receive payment directly in their accounts. Though the report did not specify the reasons, any issue in this process could be a reason, among others, why a worker is deemed ineligible.
Though the Centre has directed states to not deny work to workers who are ineligible for ABPS, the report claimed, “We have come across 200 cases in 10 states where workers (those ineligible for ABPS) are being denied work by frontline officials fearing non-payment of wages.”
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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