MGNREGS

Countering the Union rural development ministry's claims of MGNREGS wages being paid on time, the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha on Wednesday alleged the payments to workers' accounts were being delayed by "weeks or months". The organisation -- a national platform of workers' collectives, unions, organisations and individuals working on the flagship rural employment scheme -- also announced a two-day protest at Jantar Mantar, starting Thursday. In a statement, the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha said economist Jean Dreze had pointed out that it was only Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) that were generated on time, even as crediting of workers' accounts was delayed by weeks or months. The statement said Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers debunked the government's claims that the budget for the scheme had been hiked. They also demanded that wages under the scheme be increased to Rs 800 per day. According to the statement, Jharkhand NREGA Watch's Afsana Khatun said

For the 12th consecutive month, work demand under the MGNREGS fell in October, reflecting a shift in the rural economy toward more lucrative job opportunities

The scheme undoubtedly remains a robust welfare tool to support incomes and livelihood in rural areas. However, it should be the last option for people seeking employment

The rural development ministry on Sunday dismissed reports that enrolment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is going down and said it is not possible to fix targets for total enrolment in the demand-driven scheme as the financial year is still going on. According to a report of Libtech India on the implementation of the MGNREGS, there has been an 8-per cent drop in the number of active workers under the scheme compared to last year. The report also said there has been a net deletion of 39 lakh workers, raising concerns about wrongful deletions. While the names of 84.8 lakh workers were deleted, only 45.4 lakh workers were added under the scheme. "Since MGNREGA is a demand-driven scheme and current FY is still ongoing, hence, it is not possible to fix an exact target of person days generation. However, the states/UTs can send proposals for labour budget revision as per the locally felt needs," the ministry said in a statement. "It may be .

While 8.4 million workers were removed from the initiative, over 4.5 million new workers were added during this period, a report by Lib Tech, a consortium of academics and activists, claimed

Civil society activists and people working on the ground, however, believe that the decline in work demand is artificially created due to fund shortages for the programme

Overall demand for work under the scheme has dipped since the pandemic when over 133 million people sought work. In FY24, the demand had declined to 93.2 million individuals

Nearly 19 million individuals requested work under MGNREGS, showing a 17 per cent decrease compared to the same period last year

In April 2024, around 21.51 million households sought work under the scheme, which was 10.59 per cent lower than the number of households who sought work under the scheme in April 2023

The problems of the rural job scheme should be tackled through stricter monitoring, not by burden-sharing

These states had the highest percentage of households who availed work under the scheme in the last 10 years in proportion to the total households availing employment under the scheme

It is the lowest number of beneficiaries to have accessed employment under the scheme since the Covid-19 pandemic

The Congress on Thursday attacked the Modi government after it notified revised MGNREGS wages for 2024-25, saying the daily wage rates in all states are well below the Rs 400 a day promised by the party under its 'Shramik NYAY' guarantees. The Union government has reportedly notified the revised wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said MGNREGA wages are revised annually with effect from April 1. "For 2024/25, the Modi Government has just announced revised MGNREGA wages. Leaving aside the issue of whether this violates the spirit of the Model Code of Conduct in view of the forthcoming elections, the announced daily wage rates in ALL states are well below the Rs 400 a day, which is part of the 'Shramik NYAY' Guarantees of the Indian National Congress," he said. The Congress' 'Shramik NYAY' announcement guarantees a nationwide minimum wage of Rs 400 per day to put an end to wage

The second tranche of supplementary grants by various departments and ministries includes Rs 10,798 crore expenditure towards the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

The key change on the expenditure side is the focus on outcomes as well as satu­ration of beneficiaries

It's important to see the quality of spending and missing gaps in resource provision

Interim Budget: Nirmala Sitharaman has said that there may not be big announcements. However, various reports have suggested that there may be some changes in many of the Centre's schemes

Work demand drops for a second month in Dec

Both new hires, at 79 per cent, and replacement hires, at 74 per cent, are occurring rapidly, indicating a flourishing labour market in the country

The finance ministry has provided Rs 10,000 crore as advance for the rural employment guarantee scheme from Contingency Fund of India, over and above the budgetary allocation of Rs 60,000 crore, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. In reply to a question on the MGNREGS funds being exhausted, Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said the Union government has released Rs 66,629 crore to states for wage, material and administrative components under the scheme till November 29. Financial allocation of Rs 60,000 crore was made for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for the financial year 2023-24 at budget estimate stage. "Further, an amount of Rs 10,000 crore has been provided by the Ministry of Finance as an advance from Contingency Fund of India. The (rural development) ministry seeks additional funds from the Ministry of Finance as and when required for meeting the demand for work on the ground," the minister said in her